A reading from the gospel according to Luke 14:25-33
25 Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them,
26 “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.
27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
28 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?
29 Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him
30 and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
31 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?
32 But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
33 In the same way, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
Reflection: The Cost of Discipleship
Following Jesus is not without cost and Jesus does not hide the fact that it is not easy to become a disciple. It is either accepting Him as Lord and savior or rejecting Him outright. Nothing is in between. You cannot become a part time disciple.
The gospel reading above mentions at least three things that we need to do so we can become His disciple. First, we need to “hate” our family and our own life. This means we should make Jesus our priority and everything will fall into place. We love our families and friends but if they tell us to stop going to church, we should not listen to them. Instead, we pray for them and in due time, they will understand and even become fellow Christians.
Second, it is necessary to carry our own cross if we want to follow Jesus. This means death to our selves, to our ego, to our old habits and behavior so that we can have a new life with Him.
Third, we are asked to renounce our possessions to be a disciple. Many times, our devotion to our business or profession gives us less time for our spiritual growth. Likewise, our material wealth becomes a source of sin because we are too attached to them. We should use our possession to glorify God and not to bring us to damnation.
In short, Jesus is telling us that we should not let anyone including family members and even friends to hinder us from following Jesus. Neither should we let anything including possessions to prevent us from surrendering our life completely to Him. To be a true disciple, we must make Jesus our foremost priority, our number one. All other things become secondary.
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Jesus demands a high standard of living for His followers. The gospel reading above shows us that He does not want any competitor for His attention. He wants His followers to give Him their total focus, full commitment, and undivided loyalty.
The use of the word “hate” may be too strong but it means even family should not stand in the way of following Jesus. We note in Matthew 22:36-40 that the greatest and number 1 commandment is to love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. Thus, everything in our life including family and possessions should only be secondary.
It is no wonder then that in Luke 12:51-53, Jesus taught us about division in the family on account of His message. Also in Matthew 19:16-24, He tells us that a rich man can hardly enter the Kingdom of God. Indeed, the cost of discipleship is great. No one should follow Jesus without doing the accounting of pluses and minuses.
Question: What are you willing to give up for the sake of following Jesus?
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While Jesus wants us to give up worldly possessions, He promises us more than what we can renounce. This is one of the paradoxes of discipleship. If we leave everything to follow Him, He will give us a return on investment a hundred times (Matthew 19:27). We give up earthly riches but according to Saint Paul, we become heirs of the Kingdom of God (Romans 8:17). Therefore, let us never think that following Jesus is a losing proposition. The promise of eternal life is much, much better than material possessions or even family.
Our attachment to worldly things is a big obstacle in deepening our relationship with God. Jesus is calling each one of use to be attached to Him and to be detached from the world. For it is only in letting go of these attachments that we can be able to fully experience the peace and joy that Jesus offers.
*****While the call to discipleship is open to everyone, many people finds it too costly. They can’t afford to leave the comforts of family, friends and ingrained habits. Some of them are too afraid to venture into the world of God’s light because they have become accustomed to the world of darkness. Perhaps going into battle with the forces of sin is too much for them. They are already “at peace” with their sinful way of living.
In Matthew 22:14, Jesus expressed the truth: “Many are called but a few are chosen”. These few chosen people are those who are willing to pay the “cost” in order to follow Jesus. These are the people who cannot easily turned their back on Jesus because they are confident that the benefits of following Him far outweighs the cost. They are willing and able to die to themselves in order to live through Christ, for Christ and in Christ, forever.
The gospel often cites a great crowd following Jesus. It could be that many of them saw the benefits – healing, authoritative teachings, and even free food. Yet, when push came to shove, the same people could have been in the crowd shouting, “crucify him, crucify him!”. Once Jesus observed that of His followers turned away from Him. So, He asked His closest friends, “Are you also going away?” (John 6:67-68). Today, if this same question is asked of us, may we have the same answer as Peter. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” May we overcome the worldly obstacles to become true followers of Jesus.
