Give up all of your possessions
The Rev’d Graham Dunn, Chaplain at St John’s College, Cambridge
Preached at St Bene’t’s Cambridge, on Sunday 7th September 2025
We’re going through a period in our history in which we’re having to pay close attention to what leaders are saying to their followers.
The current political climate, with its shifting sands, its changing power dynamics, its unsettling rhetoric and its seemingly unstoppable capacity to overturn previously settled norms, means it more important than ever to look closely at what those who seek power are saying to those they seek to lead. What are they promising, how realistic are their promises, how much of any of it, is true?
Politicians and their advisors are working harder than ever, including using all the tools of algorithmically driven communications to carefully craft their messages and make them as attractive as possible to the most useful demographic groups in society.
Having spent many years working in and around politics before I became a priest, I can say with some authority Jesus is a spin-doctor’s nightmare.
Our gospel this morning has Jesus in front of a large group of new followers, about to lay down some home truths about what continuing to follow him will look like.
To say that he doesn’t sugar coat things, would be putting it mildly.
‘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.’
Strong stuff indeed. Where to begin.
The Greek word translated as ‘hate’ - μισέω (miséō) – is not one of those Greek words that helps you to gently massage away the difficult bits of the New Testament. It does more often than not mean ‘hate’ but let’s have a look at the way in which Jesus uses it in the context of the whole sweep of what he’s saying.
As is the case elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus seems here to be focused on his followers understanding the gravity of what they’re signing up to.
By using such strong vocabulary, Jesus isn’t specifically saying we should start hating our close family members, but he is certainly saying that, as much as we love our friends, our family and as much as we embrace the joys of life, the primary focus of followers of Jesus, needs to be on him.
The focus needs to be on him, not because Jesus is self-centred and attention-seeking.
The focus needs to be on him because the scale of the mission Jesus is seeking to undertake is such that everyone engaged in it needs to be crystal clear about their priorities.
The focus needs to be on him because he is seeking nothing less than to build an entirely new Kingdom. A Kingdom in which the old power dynamics of this world are overturned and in which love, love for each and every person and part of creation, love reigns supreme.
And the building of such a Kingdom is not cost-free. Precisely because it seeks to pull down the comfortable assumptions that have underpinned societies based on greed, inequality and discrimination, the building of the Kingdom of God will not be an easy ride.
Jesus goes on to say how it foolish it would be to embark on such a task without being properly prepared.
And in the case of preparing to build the Kingdom of God, this means giving up all that might hold us back.
‘…none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all of your possessions.’
Again, I’m not sure that any of our current leaders would begin a speech by telling their audience to hate their parents and end it by telling them to get rid of everything they owned.
But Jesus is being honest. This is not always about giving up material possessions – although sometimes it might be.
But this is definitely about clearing the spiritual decks so that we can focus our hearts and minds on joining in with God’s transforming work of love in the world.
Only with our hearts and minds completely focused on God, can we make the huge leap that our reading from Deuteronomy pushes us towards, to ‘choose life’ in the face of all that holds us back.
Only with our hearts and minds completely focused on God, can we undertake the risky business of unpicking the unjust structures in society that hold millions back.
And so, how on earth do we begin to prepare for such a task, such a mission? From where do we find the resources we need?
The Good News, as always, is that God does not leave us to wrestle with this alone.
God does not ask us to follow him alone. A Kingdom of love and peace, mercy and truth might be transformative for us but it is not new to us but it is not new to God.
At this point in the Church’s year we are celebrating Creationtide and it is worth remembering that God’s creation – all of it - is conceived and loved into being as a continually supporting, refreshing and renewing ecosystem and when we throw ourselves, body, heart and soul into it by determinedly focusing our eyes on God, that Faith is fed and resourced by God, who set all this in motion in the first place.
Fixing our focus on God in Jesus, is not cost-free but by stepping out in Faith, by choosing life, by freeing ourselves from the things which hold us back, we find life in abundance, for ourselves and for the whole of creation.
In his book on Christian discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoffer’s writes about this dynamic between what we give up and what we gain. He describes the concept of what he calls ‘costly grace’.
‘Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light’.’
As we seek to prepare ourselves for our journey with Christ, let us also remember that our journey is not a solo effort, we are accompanied by each other and we are underpinned by God’s grace.
The Eucharist, from which we live as Christians, is the ultimate act of gathered renewal and refreshment. As we come to the altar, at which God gives all of himself to set us free for boundless life, let us pray that for his grace to equip us in building his Kingdom of love.
Amen.