Luke 14:25-33 | Proper 18
23rd Sunday after Pentecost
When I wrote this yesterday for an Accordance Forum, I didn't know that the parable of the Tower Builder was part of the gospel text for this week. Since it is, I thought I would post a blurb for the week's Luke preachers. —Mary
David Lang, of Accordance Bible Software, asks, "How does Bible software 'improve' your sermons?" My one-word answer would be "connections."
At one point, Jesus reflects on the cost of discipleship by asking, "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? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build, but was not able to finish'" (Luke 14:28-30, NRSV). The fear of ridicule seems to be the motivator for counting the cost. You will want to be able to finish what you start.
In sermon preparation, Bible software helps me find information about something like that word, "ridicule." Where else does it show up? At this point, I have no idea if research will pay off in sermon fodder at all. I'm just curious, and so with one or two mouse clicks, I search on the Greek word, ἐμπαίζω. What I find is that almost everywhere else this word appears in the New Testament, it refers to what will happen or what does happen to Jesus on the cross. People mock him. "He saved others; he cannot save himself." The word is used to such an extent in the context of the cross that that context finds its way back to my reflection on the parable.
Is Jesus like the guy who didn't do his math right before starting on that tower? Is he the neighbor with all the big ideas and whose yard is usually just a mass of plywood, mud and tarps? (Does the church every look like that?) Did Jesus start something he couldn't finish, or does "finishing" this project look different from what we expected? Did Jesus miscalculate, or did he count the cost and decide to pay it?
At this point, I've done a few minutes of work. I don't have a sermon yet, and I would not even want to start one without spending more time with the text and context of the parable. However, thanks to the simplest of word searches, I have a connection between two stories from the gospels, and that connection between texts is worth exploring further. With almost every text I read toward preaching, software makes some relationship like this within the scripture easier to see.
