Preachers like nothing better than a full church. A sanctuary overflowing with worshippers. Here at Curry and Gomer, we'd love to be able to paraphrase the gospel text, "Large crowds were traveling with Grace Lutheran!" But not today - and that's unfortunate. We have a difficult Gospel text to explore ... one that lays out the cost of discipleship and gives the reason why Jesus founded the Church in the first place. But, it's Labor Day weekend and attendance is much lower than normal. Large crowds may have been traveling with Jesus, but across America, small groups of people half-fill the pews. More's the pity!

Do you recall the musical Jesus Christ, Superstar? For me the scene that stands out is one near the end, with Jesus in the temple courtyard. Evidently large crowds are still with Jesus, perhaps for some of the same reasons we follow Jesus: yearning for a bit of Jesus time, a little Jesus touch, a dose of Jesus tenderness. And in this particular scene, the people are crowding in on Jesus from all directions, pushing, pleading, prodding, "See my eyes I can hardly see. See me stand I can hardly walk. I believe you can make me whole. See my tongue I can hardly talk. See my skin I'm a mass of blood. See my legs I can hardly stand. I believe you can make me well. See my purse I'm a poor, poor man. Will you touch will you mend me Christ? Won't you touch will you heal me Christ? Will you kiss you can cure me Christ? Won't you kiss won't you pay me Christ?" The crowds were following the right Savior but for the wrong reasons - if they follow for the sole reason of having Jesus make their lives a little better. A little richer. A little healthier. Jesus is bigger than our individual needs! His mission is to save the world - and he wants to use our hands, and our feet, and voices, and our wallets to do it.

Not that Jesus doesn't offer to meet our needs. Remember Matthew 11:28 where Jesus extends the invitation, "Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." How appropriate is that for Labor Day: "Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And too, we are invited to "take it to the Lord in prayer." But the preaching and ministry of Jesus is always with the intent, a one long ago preacher put it, always with the intent of "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable."

There are some very popular and golden tongued preachers in our fair land, sharing the so-called Prosperity Gospel. The message goes something like this: "Jesus wants to bless you and make you prosper! If you sow your money through the Tim Kennedy Ministry, you will reap untold blessings. You will reap ten-fold, thirty-fold, least a hundred-fold. Sow your donation now; send your gifts to 3392 Gomer Street, and I'll send you a free DVD of today's sermon." It is so crass that there is no cross in the Prosperity Gospel. And this: any time a "ministry" is named after the preacher, a tall dose of skepticism might be in order.

I've listened to some of these TV preachers from time to time, admiring their ability with the gift of gab, some preaching to thousands upon thousands, as they promise happiness and health and untold wealth. But it is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You're not likely to find any one of them using Luke 14:25-33 as a text, because it is there, in our text for today, Jesus has gone from preachin' to meddlin'." I like that phrase: "from preachin' to meddlin'." I went to college and seminary in the South and occasionally heard that phrase and now I have a chance to use it: Jesus has gone "from preachin' to meddlin'." Quite frankly, I've had it directed to me at times; unfortunately for this congregation, not near often enough.

Many Christians have the attitude, "Preacher, don't you be sticking your nose in my business. Don't be meddlin' in my day-to-day life." I'm wondering if many in the large crowds are with Jesus looking for something, a feeding perhaps, or a healing. Maybe words of comfort ... or advice on handling an unruly teenager. Maybe some of us come to worship for similar reasons: to obtain help, to find comfort, to experience community. And these are fine reasons to come to worship. Jesus wants all of that for us. And these are legitimate reasons. I yearn for help for my problems, comfort for my sorrows, and the experience of community - and I find it here.

But Jesus wants Jesus wants more - from us and for us. Jesus want's to meddle in our lives! And this Gospel text is a prime example- the essence of what the Christian faith is truly about. There is not the barest hint of prosperity gospel in these words of Jesus. And too bad our attendance is light. The words of Jesus are heavy - and we need, over and over to be reminded of them. I don't know many occupying the pews or pulpits of Christendom who consistently prioritize their lives to the extent they leave their families, carry the cross, and give up their possessions, and life itself, for the sake of the Gospel. Sure once in awhile along the way there appears a Dietrich Bonhoeffer - or a Mother Theresa - but such saints are few and far between. A reason we need to keep this Gospel text before us.

We followers of Jesus like it better when Jesus is preaching about love, for instance, or about little children. We want to say, "Leave it there, Jesus. Keep preaching love - how God loves us. Keep reminding us how much you love the little children and how you want us to be more child-like with my own faith. But please - don't try to change my life! Don't go from preachin' to meddlin'!

I want you to pray for me please. At times I wonder if I water down the Gospel for fear of offending. Once in awhile I'll raise hot button issues such as social justice, even as one prominent conservative TV personality warns his followers, "If you belong to a church that preaches social justice, run as fast as you can in the other direction." Once in awhile I'll say something against war, as American bombs fall on innocent people in far off lands. Once in awhile I'll say something about the need for better health care in this, the richest nation on earth - but I don't say these things often enough. Pray for me that I develop the backbone of a preacher like Jesus. Help me to go from preachin' to meddlin' a little more often. This congregation deserves a preacher with integrity ... and for the foreseeable future, I want to be that preacher. So please, pray for me.

And if you're not happy with anything I said this morning, especially about the proponents of the prosperity gospel, or about social justice, or war or health care - please take it out on Jesus. The one who promises us a more abundant life. Oddly enough, as we travel with Jesus, we discover that more abundant life as we choose to advocate for - and minister to - those with no abundance at all!