02/18/2024
2/18/24 Sermon Synopsis "Discipleship, Horton Style”
This week, I found myself inspired by that Dr. Seuss classic, Horton Hatches the Egg. For those unfamiliar with the work, I will offer this brief recap. Tired of sitting on her nest, Lazy Maize wanted more out of life than just sitting all day on her egg waiting for her hatchling. So, she asks an elephant named, Horton, to do it for her. Though confused by her request, he assures her that he would sit on her nest faithfully until she returned. And so, day after day, rain or shine, in the cold or in the heat, he sat. Though onlookers would laugh and jeer, he sat. Though hunted and sold to the circus, becoming a spectacle, he sat. What is more, when he found himself wanting to give up, he reminded himself of his promise to be faithful with the refrain, “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant: an elephant is faithful one-hundred percent. Finally, the hatchling came, though looking different than expected. Instead of being just a bird, Horton hatched something new and unbelievable—an elephant-bird.
As I thought on this story, I began to think how it relates to being a follower of Jesus. It must be said that Jesus asks nothing of us, he has done himself. He gave up the praise of angels and closeness with his Father, in order to take upon himself the fullness of our humanity with its frailties. He bore his cross, with all its pain and suffering. He followed the Father’s will—to be our sacrifice, so that we might be brought back into harmony with Him.
For those who would be his disciple, he calls on them to “deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him.” For many of us, we have agreed to these terms. Yet when their demands are realized, faithfulness is not so easy. When peers jeer, enemies hunt, crowds find humor at the spectacle we have become, or seasons of life are filled with distress, we are prone to want to give up. However, if we persevere, we may just find ourselves hatching “elephant-birds” for the Kingdom of God. A transformed species of mankind—those made new inwardly, living different outwardly. Lives filled with hope, joy, freedom, and love. We will also find that a life laid down for Jesus is a life fulfilled.
The question we must ask is whether we will be true to our mantra: “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant: a disciple is faithful one-hundred percent.”
le" (Mark 8:31-38)
