**sermon art: Black Boy Joy by Ija Monet

[sermon begins after two Bible readings–hang in there through the Philemon reading, it’s worth it); the Psalm and Deuteronomy readings are at the end of the sermon.]

Luke 14:25-33  Now large crowds were traveling with [Jesus], and he turned and said to them, ²⁶ “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³ So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

Philemon, the whole one chapter book: Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To our beloved coworker Philemon, ² to our sister Apphia, to our fellow soldier Archippus, and to the church in your house:
³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
⁴ I thank my God always when I mention you in my prayers, ⁵ because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. ⁶ I pray that the partnership of your faith may become effective as you comprehend all the good that we share in Christ. ⁷ I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.
⁸ For this reason, though I am more than bold enough in Christ to command you to do the right thing, ⁹ yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. ¹⁰ I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. ¹¹ Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. ¹² I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. ¹³ I wanted to keep him with me so that he might minister to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel, ¹⁴ but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. ¹⁵ Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back for the long term, ¹⁶ no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
¹⁷ So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. ¹⁸ If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to me. ¹⁹ I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. ²⁰ Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. ²¹ Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
²² One thing more: prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.
²³ Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, ²⁴ and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my coworkers.
²⁵ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

[sermon begins]

I was driving out of my neighborhood and stopped at a red light. Six feet from my car stood an older gentleman waiting at the crosswalk with a massive red rolling suitcase on his way to catch the light rail. The intersection was packed with cars. I was wearing my pastor collar heading to church to do a funeral. Suddenly, the man looked at me, started smiling widely and moving exuberantly, making huge signs of the cross in my direction. Left hand clutching the roller handle, right palm out towards me, he flung his arm as tall as his hand could go, then down, then side to side. He did this several times and then crossed himself. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh with him.

His exuberance was infectious. He was right there on the corner. Six feet from my car. It finally occurred to me to return his blessing for the few brief moments that the light was still red. There we were, blessing each other, blessing ourselves, and laughing together. The light changed and we parted ways delighted by joy. The other people in cars had no idea that I was in a pastor’s collar or what inspired the man to make the sign of the cross at my bright green car or that I was returning his blessing. I’d love to hear THEM tell the story. What was clear was that there was nothing that was going to stop this man from blessing me. He may have been on the way to the light rail station, but he was definitely on the Way of Jesus.

Meanwhile, in his letter to Philemon about Onesimus’ enslavement, Paul was figuring out the Way of Jesus without much to go on by way of precedent or road map.[1] No one knew how to welcome a slave into the Way of Jesus. Paul didn’t know what the consequences would be for Onesimus or anyone else. Could it be dangerous for Onesimus? But with love and courage, he implored Philemon to reconfigure the enslaver/enslaved relationship into a family relationship. From slave to brother. A radical request.

This tiny, one chapter book in the Bible was used in our own country and across countries during the Transatlantic slave trade to justify the enslavement of Black African people by White Christians as a gentle, merciful, and kind act to make people’s lives better.[2] Not only COULD those 19^th century enslavers justify their actions but they SHOULD enslave people to save them from an uncivilized, unChristian life. The 19^th century abolitionists also used Philemon to work AGAINST slavery, claiming that Paul’s letter upended the relationship between the enslaver and the enslaved person. Find your home Bible or hop online and read Philemon with fresh eyes. As a Roman citizen, Paul was caught in the slavery norm of the empire. As a Jew, Paul remembered the Egyptian enslavement of his people and the Exodus led by Moses that freed them. He was in new territory as a follower of the Way of Jesus and a preacher of Christ and him crucified.[3] So goes the Biblical bind of the ethical interpretation of scripture.

The Biblical bind of ethical interpretation is a helpful caution on “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday. Our desire to follow Christ towards the very people left out of human dignity, justice, and flourishing can result in unintended consequences for those very people. It’s not a reason not to help. But it is a caution when we choose life as commanded in the Deuteronomy text or delight in the law of the Lord as instructed in Psalm 1. We do the work of God for the life and delight of all people, for God’s sake, and for the sake of the world. The minute we turn in on ourselves and make it about the church is the minute we miss the point. Understanding God’s mission for us is a good example of law and gospel. The gospel, which means the good news of Jesus, frees us to be people of courage and people of hope, knowing that God’s mission of life, love, and human flourishing is necessarily for each one of us, too.

At the same time that the gospel frees us, the law convicts us. The law is the command that Jesus gives us. Jesus said:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”[4]

And we are to delight in that law, says the Psalmist, even though there is a cost to being on the Way of Jesus. Jesus’ stinging words about family in the Luke reading jolt his listeners into awareness. In the first century, family was essential to survival. He had their attention. Jesus hits on three things that we love a lot—life itself, our immediate family, and our money.[5] Loving these things are prioritized elsewhere in the Bible as good things so we know that Jesus is emphasizing something big with his intense delivery.

What are we to make of Jesus’ teaching as we follow his way while also loving these things? ARE we too quick to make idols of them? Meaning, are life, family, and money really just self-absorption in disguise? Or is it more complicated, is Jesus challenging us to consider the cost of discipleship over time? Following the Way of Jesus changes who you are, how you love and who you love.[6] Following Jesus’ Way changes how we spend our money and what we think about our stuff. Persistence over time gives us perspective as we learn the Way. We’re not expected to know all the things there are to know about the destination or what perfection looks like. Remember, there is nothing you can do or not do to make God love you any more or any less.

When Jesus commands us to love our neighbor, it’s not optional. It’s essential to who we are and to whom we belong. The good news is that the gospel frees us to love our neighbor with wild abandon and exuberant delight, unafraid of looking ridiculous at intersections. Unafraid of speaking out and showing up with all of our neighbors—immigrants, LGBTQ, Palestinian and Jew, unhoused, and hungry. All. Our. Neighbors. Unafraid of making mistakes while being thoughtful in our exuberance to minimize mistakes so that God’s mission of human flourishing in God’s image and for God’s kingdom purpose takes hold. “God’s work. Our hands.” Indeed, and amen. [Exuberantly making the sign of the cross towards the people.]

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[1] Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast on worship readings for 9/7/2025. #1040: Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 23C) – September 07, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[2] Skinner, ibid.

[3] 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (verse 2 “Jesus Christ and him crucified.”)

[4] Matthew 22:37-40

[5] Rolf Jacobson, Professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast on worship readings for 9/7/2025. #1040: Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 23C) – September 07, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[6] Skinner, ibid.

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Deuteronomy 30:15-20 “Choose life.”

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. ¹⁶ If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that you shall certainly perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Psalm 1 “Their delight is in the law of the Lord.”

¹ Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
² Their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and they meditate on God’s teaching  day and night. 
³ They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; everything they do shall prosper.
⁴ It is not so with the wicked;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.
⁶ For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked shall be destroyed.