Costly Discipleship

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's gospel. This was sent electronically to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church. I would like to have a conversation with you about this. What thoughts do you have on this gospel reading?  

Luke 14:25-33

²⁵Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, ²⁶“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. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For 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? ²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Jesus is blunt. There is no small print. He paints a vivid picture of what it means to truly be his disciple. Life will not be all sweetness and light. Rather, Jesus’ obedience to his Father took him to the cross. He wanted all those in the crowd who said they wanted to follow him, know just what they were getting into.

Jesus calls us to abandonment—of each and everything that comes between us and him. If we want to follow Jesus, we too must walk that path to our own crucifixion of everything that comes between us and God. Martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks of the cost of the cross in this way:

The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man [and woman] must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old [person] which is the result of his [her] encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man [woman], he bids [them] come and die. (The Cost of Discipleship) 

Let us pray. Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me. Amen. 

Prayer by St. Ignatius

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