Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, any of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14.25-33)
As we listen to our lesson on this Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, it is clear that Rabbi Jesus is laying out for his listeners the cost of discipleship. We’re told that “great crowds were traveling with Jesus” as he made his way to Jerusalem, but we also know there was no one standing at his side as he was crucified on a cross. It is safe to conclude that by that point everyone had decided following Jesus was too high a price to pay, although he had stated upfront that “whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” On the day of his crucifixion, Jesus had no disciples.
Although the verses that we have today are forthright and forceful, capable of standing on their own, it may be helpful to see that they are preceded by a parable, one well-known to most of us. It is the parable of the Great Feast and tells the story of a man who gave a great dinner, sending his servants to invite the guests.
As we know from our familiarity with the story, each guest comes up with an excuse for not being able to accept the invitation, the first saying that he had “purchased a field and must go to examine it.” Another offered a similar excuse, stating that he had purchased five yokes of oxen and was on his way to evaluate them. The third offered the reason for his absence, explaining that “I have just married a woman and therefore I cannot come.”
Returning to the master, the servants explained that everyone he had invited had more important things to do and so could not attend, resulting in the ire of the man who then instructed his servants to “go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.” These least ones were happy to accept the invitation. The parable concludes with the master stating, “I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.”
The parable of the Great Banquet provides a natural transition to the teachings that Rabbi Jesus offers to the crowds. What the story presented in narrative form Jesus now explains in a series of didactic statements, his words emphasizing that faithful discipleship requires body, soul and spirit from a person. If someone can’t give his or her all to the way of life, then they don’t need to start.
That same point is put front and center in the two examples that Jesus offers the crowds, examples that are found only in Luke’s gospel. The first example presents the man who wants to construct a tower. If he wants to see the job completed, then he will have to sit down and calculate the cost before beginning the work. The second example, similar to the first, tells of a king who is about to march into battle against another king. Before initiating the offensive, the king must first decide whether he has enough soldiers to win the battle. If not, then there is no need to enter the battlefield.
So, in this call to discipleship, Jesus is holding no punches, but instead is stating upfront the cost of following him. Unlike shysters who try to hide costs in the tiny print, Jesus’ words are bold and honest, putting before others the demands that will be placed on them if they choose to walk in his footsteps. If they decide they can’t give everything to following him, now is the time to turn back.
Of course, we are well aware that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem where he will face the plots and machinations of the Pharisees and other religious leaders who want to dispose of him, considering him a threat to the status quo or the way that things were done. It is impossible for Jesus to look down the road without knowing that he will be required to give everything he has if he wants to be faithful to his Father’s will.
The cross that Jesus speaks of in these verses, informing his followers that they will have to carry their own crosses if they want to follow him, is not a hypothetical or metaphorical concept for him. A real cross awaits him in Jerusalem, one that he will have to carry on his back from the courtyard of the High Priest to the hill outside the city called Golgatha.
If his followers cannot carry a similar cross, then they cannot call themselves his disciples. It is noteworthy that here Jesus uses the word “carry” one’s cross while Matthew prefers to say “accept” one’s cross. There is a difference. The word carry implies a continuous action, not a one and done as Matthew’s choice of words might suggest.
In other words, discipleship is more than a 9 to 5 job and a lot more than an hour in a church pew on Sunday morning. It is a way of life that starts with the dawn and ends late at night, every waking hour in between spent in doing much the same as Jesus did, namely caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, welcoming the outcast, and hearing the cries of the abandoned.
The problem as Jesus can see is that few people are willing to give so much, instead choosing to turn down the invitation to the banquet table as did the invited guests, offering a spattering of excuses that only serve to say that something else is more important. Of course, the excuses provided by the guests are typical ones, some having to do with material well-being, another having to do with other persons in one’s life.
It is important to see that the excuses that the servants heard from the invited guests result in the master’s rage. The man’s anger is not arbitrary, but is in response to the rejection of his largesse. Most commentators tend to see the guests as stand-ins for the Jewish people who have rejected Jesus’ message, although in our times it certainly can be extended to anyone and everyone who does the same.
As we look more closely at these verses today, I would suggest that we focus our attention on the excuses that we allow to stand in the way of our following Jesus fully and wholeheartedly. I prefer the word entanglements because it carries with it the notion that we are held back or prevented from doing what Jesus asks of us, entangled or ensnared in one thing or another, much like getting our feet caught or snagged in something that deters us from walking in the path of Jesus.
While Jesus offers examples of the usual entanglements that we allow to stop us from faithfully following him–again the top of the list generally includes material goods, a pet peeve of this evangelist who concludes this section with the warning “any of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple”–we will have to examine our own lives to decide what twisted cords hold us back from living the life that Jesus calls us to live.
Living in an age and in a culture that is far from the ways of Jesus, there is always the likelihood that we don’t want to stand out or stand against the crowds, fearful for our livelihood or reputations, not wanting to bring attention to ourselves lest we end up rejected and crucified as Jesus did. Going against the flow is never an easy thing to do and most people who do end up castigated, criticized, and cast out of the clique. Our fear of being rejected renders us immobile, unable to meet the moment that stands before us.
Overall, most of us find it more comfortable to blend into the crowd whose membership requires that we don’t ask too many questions and don’t upset the shared beliefs of the people around us. In time, we simply go along to get along, an entanglement that allows little movement on our part, convincing ourselves that the ways of Jesus are too difficult for us to follow or, worse, telling ourselves that we are getting the job done when the truth is quite the opposite. More Pharisees walk any street in our country than ever walked the streets of Jerusalem.
Whatever our excuses or entanglements, they will not win over Jesus, whom we hear say today that “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” While most scholars want to see this command as an exaggeration in the service of making a point, we should not doubt for a moment that Jesus is telling us our priorities have to be in the right order if we want to call ourselves his disciples.
A preacher was confronted one day by a parishioner who didn’t like the message he was preaching. The minister answered, “Well, those were the words of Jesus.” The irate man replied, “Well, there are a lot of words in the Bible that are out of keeping with the spirit of our time. It’s just out of touch. What people expect of the church nowadays is not a lot of talk about cross-bearing and loving enemies. They want to come to church to feel better, be a part of a group that will help them be successful. In a case or two maybe some therapy but otherwise, we get together to mutually enjoy each other, so knock off the ‘ought’ and ‘must’ and ‘should.’”
Puzzled, the minister asked, “Why?” To which the man answered, “It sets the bar too high. If you keep doing it, you’ll never have a church. There will always be those little cinderblock churches where people meet once a week to make each other miserable and if you’re not careful you’ll be one of those. Don’t be out of touch with the spirit of the time.”
Listening to the exchange, we have to admit there is no small irony in the man wanting the message of Jesus “not to be out of touch with the spirit of the time.” As we know, Jesus did not abide by the spirit of the time, but abided by the will of the Most High God, the two almost always diametrically opposed. Jesus’ own purpose was to put before the crowds the Kingdom of God, not the kings of this world.
Saying much the same thing, a writer once said, “Jesus . . . says exactly this: Stand faithful and do not get blown about by the ideologies of the world. If we lose our distinction from the world’s greed, uncaring, self-centeredness, exclusionism, unfaithfulness, and violence, then we have no purpose.” Of course, we have to concede he’s right. If there’s nothing distinct about those of us who call ourselves Christians, then we need to return our badges at the front door of the church. We’ve got ourselves entangled in the ways of the world, not in the ways of Jesus.
–Jeremy Myers
Sunday Brunch 