Jesus Asks..."Why Do You Call Me Lord?" Luke 6.46-49

Throughout the Gospels Jesus asks his disciples questions that were meant to spur them on to grow in their faith and belief in Him.  This series presents those same questions to us, that we might progress in our trust of Him. Given as short homilies, and released every Sunday, may they bless you with the timely Word from the Scriptures. 
 
 This weeks message presents the question to you, "Why do you call me Lord, and not do what I say?" Luke 6:46-49
 
 Presented by Michael Mullen.

Transcript

Luke 6.46-49

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” 

The question…

For the last nine weeks we have looked at questions that Jesus asked his followers that were meant to provoke in the a change of understanding or a repentence. These questions spoke to those first believers and we find that they speak to us as well.The question today literally resonates through the ages. 

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

The Context 

It was spoken first to the crowd gathered to hear Him teach what we now call tthe sermon on the Mount or Sermon on the Plain, depending on which Gospel we are reading it from. This was a teaching about the way we should live. It is full of a lot of ethical admonitions that reflect the holy will of God. It is a demanding call to a radical obedience of putting God, and then neighbor before our selves. 

You can only imagine the people hearing it, that as it progressed and they heard the principles of the Kingdom of God being flshed out in real examples in life, they were taken back, overwhelmed. “Who can do this? No one can live this way! To forgive and pray for our enemies, come on. I mean, do good to those who hate us? You want us to not strike back when someone slaps us? You want us to give to those who would steal from us?” There must have been a oppinion that would tell Jesus to back off, that his demands were to much, to harsh, so contrary to the real world. But to this Jesus asks tyhe question: 

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

The Lordship of Christ and Our Flourishing

It is interesting in the Bible that the word “Lord/LORD” has two meanings, related but distinct from each other. The first is indicated in our English translations by capitalizing every letter that spells the word. Whenever we see LORD writen this way, with all capitals, it is translating the very name of God, the person of God. When we see it written with a capital “L” followed by a small ”o-r-d” it is speaking of human relationship of a master to a disciple, or a master teacher to an apprentice. It was often used to describe the relationship between a rabbi and his student.

In Luke 6, when Jesus asks “why do you call me Lord” he is using that word that is often translated master. He is reflecting the understanding of the crowds and disciples that he is a master teacher, that he has wisdom on how to live, and that they wish to align themselves with his teaching. The key to all this is that the disciple or apprentice learns by follwing the will or direction of the master.

In this context then the question seems to be “if you are my disciple, why do you not do what I have told you to do; why do you not follow the principles that I have given you, why do you do your own thing rather than my thing?” 

You see Jesus is pointing out an inconsistency in the disciples and crowds thought, that following means somrthing less than obedience to the master. Maybe they would  put in practice some of the precepts, but turning the cheek was too much. Jesus is asking them “why do you call me Lord?” Maybe they love the beausty of Jesus thought, but for themselves chose to live by a some what easier code, a law unto themselves. Then Jesus asks them, “Why do you call me Lord?

You see to say “no” to the will of the master is to indicate that he realy isn’t Master after all. To say “No Lord,” is to say a contradiction. The key to the Lord/disciple relationship is obedience. The disciple does the Lord’s will.

Does this seem to hard, to difficult? Is it even worth it?

Jesus anticipates such questions with a description of a life given to those who follow Him. He says they are like a man who builds a house and puts a foundation on rock. When the storms come, and they always come, he rests secure. He makes it through. Those who build  on anything less than rock are washed away. They do not survive the storm, but they pay with a diminishment of life, they are ruined. 

This means that Jesus is telling us that obedience to his teaching, and ultimately his will as the Master, is not optional to anyone. If yoiu want to flourish in life follow Him, obey him in every way you can.

The Question applied to us…

On April 9, 1945, Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged at the Nazi POW camp,  Flossenburg, only days before the American liberation. The last words of the brilliant and courageous 39-year-old disciple of Christ were “This is the end—for me, the beginning of life.”

Years before Bonhoeffer had written a book on following Christ called “The Cost of Discipleship.” In it he wrote of a modern Christianity that has made grace cheap. It was cheap not because it was not freely given, but because of the worth we have attached to it. We take grace casually, and not with the serious weight it deserves. He writes: 

“Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?…"

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

“Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'Ye were bought at a price', and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.” 

What do we say?

Do we love Christ? 

The answer to this simple question, first asked by Jesus  in John 21 to Peter after he had denied him, can only be answered by what we do in following Him. We answer so fast by our words, but our actions reveal to what degree we love God. Our love of God is revealed in how we love our neighbors, and even more so, how we love our enemies. Another way of asking the same question is “Can we follow where he leads? Are we willing?”

The path of Christ is to the Cross. The life of the disciple is cruciform in shape, reflecting the love that Christ has for us. We also live in the light and power of the resurrection, where we live with a hope that cannot be diminished by the our suffering, and the sufferings of this world. We believe that God uses all our trials and suffering to show forth his love. The more we give to our fellow human beings, the more we love God. The more we die to ourselves, the more alive we become. 

Let us pray.

Blessed Master, our Lord and God,

Come be with us and teach us the way to go.

In your expressed will as revealed in scritpture

You have given us a path to living.

Help us in our weakness,

And do not withhold your grace from us.

Let us reckon the cost that you paid for our salvation,

And let us not be intimidated by the cost of obeying you.

You have called us to follow,

Dying to ourselves, living unto you.

By your Spirit, empower us to this Holy way of living.

Open our eyes to the needs of our brothers and sisters,

And lead us to come to our aid of our neighbors.

Help us to love those who work for our destruction;

Assist us to pray for our enemies.

Be pleased to have your way in us, O Lord.

We pray this because of your ever present mercy and grace.

Amen