Those of us who work in the National Parks have plenty of opportunities to deal with the public. And it’s not just dealing with the public, but the public on vacation. When people go on vacation, they often leave some of their common sense at home. So it is our job to remind them, or even stop them from doing things that aren’t exactly smart. And in the process, we hear all sorts of excuses.

On the park service intranet site we have a page where we can post interesting stories that we have encountered while performing our duties. And often times what is even more entertaining than the acts the visitors were attempting is the excuses that they come up with when questioned about what they are doing. And so, we get the visitor at Yellowstone who when stopped from attempting to feed a bison, said the reason she was doing it was because she thought the rangers had trained the bison to eat out people’s hands. Or the person who was rescued from the Bright Angel Trail at the Grand Canyon with dehydration and no water who told the rangers that he had a bottle of Pepsi when they started down the trail. Or one of the more recent posts involved a motorist on the Colonial Parkway between Jamestown and Williamsburg in Virginia. When pulled over for doing 65 in a 45 zone, the motorist told the ranger that she was in a hurry to get off of the road because it was getting dark, and his headlight was out, that’s why his inspection sticker was expired. The motorist wound up getting two tickets, one for speeding and another for the expired sticker, which the ranger hadn’t noticed.

People are full of excuses. As the father of four children I’ve heard an infinite number of excuses Sometimes the excuses are valid, sometimes they are just offered to get out of a situation we don’t want to be in, or get out of doing something that we don’t want to do. And we offer the excuses at all different times and places, for all sorts of reasons. For some reason we seem to always want to justify our actions, sometimes with words that just don’t make sense. And it’s these words that can sometimes sound so funny, or cause the most frustration. As George Washington stated in a 1791 letter, “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” Unfortunately, one of the places we hear excuses the most is in the church. Whether it be an excuse as to why you can’t do something, or why you can’t tithe, or why you haven’t been around on Sunday mornings, the excuses fly. Again, some of these excuses may be valid, but then again Jesus set the bar pretty high when validating excuses.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, when another traveler on the road tells him that he will follow him wherever he goes. To point out that this commitment to follow Jesus may not be as strong as the traveler states, Luke tells us of two more travelers that Jesus asks to follow him. Each of these travelers offer valid excuses, but in each case Jesus ridicules them.

It’s sort of a tough passage to read, because we want to be on the side of the travelers. After all each excuse offered was valid, and came along with the promise to rejoin Jesus later. The one traveler was on his way to bury his father, an excuse that we all would except, but promised to return afterward. The second traveler only wanted to go say farewell to his family. Yet in both cases Jesus seems to be less then patient with these excuses.

I think what Jesus is trying to point out here, is that there always will be some reason, some excuse to not do the hard work for which he calls us. We all have good intentions, but in the end there always seems to be something in the way. One of the most dreaded jobs on any church council is the person who chairs Stewardship. It should be the easiest, after all we are all called to return to God what has been gifted to each of us, our time, and talents, and our money. But when the word stewardship is brought up, the excuses often fly. My calendar is so full, I’m not talented enough to do that, or times are tough and we just don’t have much money. And so, in the end, Stewardship can become such a thankless job.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Lutheran teaching of Justification by faith alone is that if we are already forgiven, then we don’t need to do anything else. And in some respects this is true, we are not required to do anything. We have been set free by God’s love and actions, and in this freedom we are not required to perform any acts to keep this gift.

Yet while this freedom may free us from the need to work for our justification, it comes with a new set of responsibilities. In our second lesson this morning Paul writes to the Galatians, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for selfindulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Paul preaches what Jesus modeled in his living and dying, that the freedom of the Christian is for the neighbor, not from the neighbor. It is the freedom to act on behalf of the all, not to provide excuses to not act. Nelson Mandela once said, “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

This teaching remains as challenging today as it was in the first century, perhaps even more so. Pursuit of individual fame and wealth are glorified in popular culture, while basic human rights for all people such as clean water, housing, education, and health care, remain unachieved. We have plenty of excuses why we can’t achieve these goals, while at the same time we see our stars living lives that are full of excess. The media serves up illusions of freedom from daily concerns in the form of romanticized relationships and exacerbated conflicts, instead of telling the truth about the daily suffering that is the reality for most of the world’s inhabitants and modeling methods of forgiveness and reconciliation.

The kind of freedom Christ offers those who follow him is freedom from narrow preoccupation with our private concerns. As we turn our attention outward on the world we find the love, joy, and peace that are only some of the Holy Spirit’s gifts to those who would give their lives away for the sake of the world.

It is sort of ironic that these texts appear on the day of our congregational meeting. As we gather in a short time to plan the ministry of this congregation, let’s not offer the excuses, but look to the future of what Grace can do, and dedicate ourselves to accomplishing that future. I have no doubt that we can do that. I have seen the people of this congregation carry out some pretty incredible tasks. When we put our mind to it we can do some amazing things.

Jesus calls us to serve, to serve others and to serve our God. This message is repeated over and over again in the gospels. Yet as humans we are constantly looking for ways to get away from this calling. We offer excuses as to why we cannot follow Jesus as we are asked. As a church we should learn to hear the call to follow Jesus and to do the work that is part of the responsibility we have been given through grace. When we are asked to participate in a needed ministry, we should find a way to say yes. When it comes time to tithe to help fund the work of the church, we should provide a meaningful gift. And when we see a place where ministry can take place, let us go to that place.

We are called to follow Jesus Christ, not offer excuses. We are human, however, and we will always find excuses. It is because of this that we should forever be thankful that God has acted us to free us. We should be thankful, that, on the way to the cross, Jesus Christ did not offer any excuses. Instead of excuses, our savior saved us.