First Presbyterian Church
Salty Sisters and Brothers
Sermon for September 9, 2007
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Jesus has just been eating a Sabbath meal at a Pharisee's house, and speaking to the men at the meal about the humble being exalted, and how, in the realm of God, the outcasts will dine at the table, while the wealthy refuse the invitation. And now he speaks to the crowds. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 14:25-35.

25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; 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.

34 "Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"

This ends our gospel reading. Let's listen to the anthem.

The letter to Philemon is the shortest of Paul's letters, written while he was in prison, or maybe under house arrest. He writes to Philemon, a wealthy man who provides space in his home for the church members to meet. Philemon's slave Onesimus has left Philemon, probably without his permission, and spent time with Paul. Now he must return. Listen for the word of God as it is found in the letter to Philemon.

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, 2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God 5 because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus.

6 I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for 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 bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, 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 both 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 be of service 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 forever, 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 my account. 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 say.

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 fellow workers. 25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

This ends our reading from God's word.

The pro-slavery movement of the nineteenth century in the United States considered those verses an endorsement of slavery. No matter that Paul told Philemon to treat Onesimus as his brother, to welcome his slave as he would welcome Paul himself. In Christ, we are new creations, we are family, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

But that didn't figure into their interpretations. Neither did knowing that slavery in the Roman world was very different from slavery in the US. The Greek word for slave is also the word for servant; Roman slaves were more like indentured servants. Sometimes they were debt slaves; once they paid their debt, they were free. Roman owners could pay, adopt, or free their slaves.

I am appalled that some church-going Presbyterians used Philemon and other verses to justify slavery. They genuinely believed that to oppose slavery was seditious, blasphemous, and unpatriotic. Even today, we have people who twist the Bible's words for their own convenience. That's one reason why it's so important for us to teach the Bible to our children, and learn it ourselves. We need to be able to recognize when people use scripture to defend their sin.

I'm not trying to defend the Roman institution of slavery. But it's important for us to know how different it was from US slavery. At times, it was illegal for American owners to free their slaves; they would certainly never adopt them. Slaves were taken by force from Africa and sold to Europeans and Americans.

Sara and Elizabeth Delany were daughters of a slave. Their father was a boy when the slaves were emancipated. Having Our Say is the biography of the Delany sisters. They were both over a hundred years old when they were interviewed by a journalist, and that interview turned into a book. They reminisce about their lives, and tell about their father's life as a slave when he was a boy. His family were house slaves; their masters treated them well compared to others of the time; his parents were allowed to be married in the parlor, and someone taught the children to read and write.

The Delany sisters said, “Most of the slaves became sharecroppers, living off the land owned by whites. The whites fixed it so those Negroes could never get ahead. Wasn't much better than slavery. The whites were able to cheat the Negroes because very few Negroes could read or write or do arithmetic. And even if the Negroes knew they were being cheated, there wasn't a thing they could do about it.

The Delanys were among only a handful of former slaves in those parts who didn't end up begging. Papa was proud of this, beyond words They survived by eating fish they caught in the river and gathering up wild plants for food. After a while, they built a home, some kind of lean-to or log cabin. They were smart, but they were lucky, and they knew it. They could read and write, and they hadn't been abused, and their family was still together. That was a lot more than most former slaves had going for them.

The Delany sisters said, “Papa and his brothers all learned a trade. Following in the shoes of one of his older brothers, Papa became a mason. His brother was known in the South for being able to figure the number of bricks it would take to build a house. People would send him drawings and that fellow could figure out in his head exactly how many bricks it would take. Saved people a lot of trouble and money. 1”

Roman slave owners had to make sure their slaves learned a trade before they freed them, so they could support themselves. The slaves were part of the household and masters were obligated to care for them. But for Paul, that didn't go far enough. He was grateful enough for Onesimus'service to him, that he wanted to pay his debts, if he had any.

Paying debts was a point of honor. If you owed money to someone, they had political and social power over you. That's why a man wouldn't go into debt to finish a tower if he couldn't complete it. Jesus gave that example and told about a king considering if he can win a war against another king. He was warning the crowd that despite his message about grace, about including people who are poor, crippled, blind, and lame in that great banquet, it is still costly to follow him.

There is still the cross to bear. Bearing one's cross isn't about suffering, about putting up with an illness or constant pain. It's about following Jesus to the cross, being willing to lay down our lives for Christ's way of love and peace. Love and peace are still plenty controversial.

So if Jesus' message is about love and peace, why does he say “Whoever does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, cannot be my disciple”? It's a Semitic hyperbole; an exaggeration. But it is an uncomfortable verse. Part of it is about giving up your inherited social standing and embracing the household of God. But I think part of it is recognizing that we're not obligated to support our family no matter what.

I've seen a little of the destructiveness of family loyalty. Sometimes adult children feel obligated to defend their parents, no matter how harmful their parents' actions are. A long time ago, I had a friend whose father was a pastor. The pastor was asked to leave the church. His daughter had a very difficult time. Her father had yelled at church members, spent 1,000s beyond the budget without session approval, and when people disagreed with him, he told them they to leave. My friend had been on the receiving end of his behavior. But still, she thought he should stay at the church. He was her father and she loved him. She didn't want to admit his flaws.

And the same is true for parents—sometimes it's hard to admit when our children have problems. I've heard spouses defend their abusers. They put family loyalty ahead of safety.

Abuse, drug addiction, alcoholism are hard things for us to face in our families. We put on a good front to the outside world, and pretend everything is okay. And that pretense is harmful. When we are reluctant to face destructive behaviors, the behaviors become more destructive. To us and to our families, and to the people who love us.

That's one way I interpret Jesus' words about hating your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters. Our first loyalty is not to maintain the family at any cost; our first loyalty is to Christ and to Christ's way. So if our family member chooses destruction, we are not obligated through family loyalty to participate in that destruction. We are obligated to participate in Christ, to be new creations, to love our neighbors and ourselves.

Giving up all our possessions is another tricky one. Clearly the disciples didn't give up all their possessions. They hosted Jesus and shared their houses and food with him. It could be Jesus expected them to be generous with their sister and brother disciples, and give up holding on to their possessions, in the same way they had to give up their family loyalties.

And what about salt losing its flavor? I think the verse is about salt losing its ability to be a seasoning. If it was contaminated, it wasn't safe to cook with. You couldn't throw it on the ground, because that would keep plants from growing. Throwing it on the dung heap, or as it is better translated, the compost pile 2, doesn't work either. Salt is a preservative, and stops decomposition. The compost pile isn't good fertilizer if it has table salt in it. Salt that isn't any good doesn't have a place to go.

Becoming Jesus' disciples means we will have a welcome place to go.

When Jesus spoke to the crowd about the tower builder and the king, I think he meant the one Master Builder and the King of Creation. Like the tower builder laying the foundation, and like the king mustering his soldiers, God has considered the cost of our redemption. The cross is the cost. God loves us, and commits to us, knowing the cost. Jesus set his face to Jerusalem prepared to pay the cost, knowing that we would all benefit from the dividend of salvation. God has estimated the cost and decided we are worth it. Amen.

1 Delany, Sara and A. Elizabeth with Amy Hill Hearth, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 years p. 25-6.

2 kopron as manure pile, see books.google.com/books?id=PVmbZ-2HiysC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=kopron+manure&source=web&ots=URShxgiVHX&sig=A8NHKDsJwx_RReQn9K1AmHuDsV8