Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
[Intro]
Although Jesus may not have been popular with the Pharisees and lawyers, wherever He went, great crowds followed Him. These crowds witnessed so many signs and miracles and they were ready to be eyewitnesses to the next great event.
But being a follower of Christ isn’t always about waiting for the next sign or miracle, as much as these crowds – and many of us – often may think. You see, being a Christian comes at a great cost that includes denying family, ourselves, and our possessions. Today, on this the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Jesus teaches us the true cost of discipleship.
Now, for some Christians, they say, there is no cost in being a follower of Christ. They say essentially that, “You can have your cake and eat it, too,” by being a Christian and also living a worldly life. They say, “I can pick what I like, and disregard what I don’t like in the Bible and still be a Christian.” This leads to arguments like, “Faith only belongs within the walls of the church on Sunday mornings.” For Jesus, however, if you want to truly be a Christian, He demands sacrifice. So, being a Christian only on a Sunday morning will not do. He demands loyalty.
[Three Conditions of Discipleship]
In today’s Gospel text, Jesus speaks to the crowd who desire to follow Him wherever He goes. But in order to follow Jesus, He demands true repentance and genuine discipleship. He says, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). Ouch! Those are some harsh words! But, Jesus does not stop there! He continues, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27) and “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33).
Here, Jesus sets forth three conditions for following Him – we must hate family, carry the cross, and leave possessions behind.
First, there must be a willingness to leave behind family ties, including the tie to oneself. Now, for us, the word “hate” sounds so harsh to our ears. How could I hate my parents? How could I hate my spouse? How could I hate my siblings? How could I hate, myself? Does Jesus really mean that we are to hate our family, and even ourselves?
Well, yes and no. Here, when Jesus uses the word “hate,” He is using a Semitic expression which literally means “not love more than.” So, when Jesus says, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own [family and themself]” … “he cannot be My disciple,” Jesus is really saying, “You are not to love family and yourself more than Me.”
Family ties can often become a barrier to repentance and to genuine discipleship of Jesus. We would rather compromise with family instead of holding true to Jesus. We begin to idolize our family, our friends, ourselves, our own houses, our cars, and other possessions. You see, Jesus divides families. So, Christians sooner or later will face challenges from unbelieving loved ones saying: “Choose meand my ways rather than Jesus and His ways.” A non-believing spouse, or parents, or siblings, or children will demand allegiance and conformity in ways that a Christian simply must not agree. When this occurs, the Christian must love Jesus more than any family ties.
§ Many of us may become pressured from within our own families and close friends to stray from Christ due to social pressures.
§ Many of us may be pressured by your teacher or professor to stray form Christ’s teachings in order to receive a good grace.
§ Many of us may be pressured by your employer to stray from Christ’s teachings in order to remain employed or to even get employed.
So, what would you do? Who are you going to choose?
Jesus says that to be His disciple, we must renounce family, self, and possessions. Unless this happens, the follower will be like the builder who can’t finish his tower or a king who can’t win his war. So, when the going gets tough, lukewarm allegiance to Jesus will grow cold. Any halfhearted commitment will not do.
This is the cost of being a disciple of Christ. With knowing this, who really wants to be a Christian? Do you really want to renounce family, yourself, and possessions?
Discipleship is hard. But do you know what is easy? It is much easier to just give into temptation. Walking in step with the world appears to be much easier. The world doesn’t seem to be all that bad.
Jesus also says, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). This is the second condition of discipleship: carry the cross. Now, what exactly does that mean? Well, following Jesus means self-denial. It means the sacrifice of one’s own will for the sake of Christ. “Cross” here does not refer to the afflictions and troubles that commonly come to Christians and non-Christians alike. Rather, a Christian taking up the cross means to accept whatever suffering might result from a sincere commitment to Christ and His kingdom. For many of the disciples, their confession of Christ would mean death.
Jesus’s words today are enough to discourage us of discipleship. But one thing is clear from the Scriptures, Jesus wants us to become His disciples. He yearns for us to build that tower called Christianity and to fight that enemy twice our size called Satan. We are sure of this because that’s why Jesus – who is fully God became man – lived in our place, suffered and died in our place, and rose again, so that we might become His disciples.
But Jesus wants to make clear to us that being one of His disciples means more than joining an organization called the church, just as we could join a Kiwanis or Rotary Club. Christianity is more than having one’s name on a membership list or one’s picture in a congregational directory. It’s more than getting baptized, confirmed, married and buried under the confines of the church. Christianity is a life living 100 percent under the sway of God. And the one true God – the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit – doesn’t want only a part of our life; He wants all.
So, what does “all” look like? God the Father wants us to let Him take over through His Son Jesus Christ. That is discipleship. That is what is meant by forsaking all we have. It means giving up our self to God. It means trusting in Jesus, clinging to Jesus, depending on Jesus. That is discipleship.
Bearing the cross in 21st century America is tough. We have to be willing to sacrifice everything for our faith in Christ. We must be willing to sacrifice our family, ourselves, our employment, and even our possessions when we face ridicule for the one true Christian faith. Often, we would rather just give in to the world’s changing doctrine in order to preserve our family, ourselves, our employment, and our possessions.
But walking in step with the world is only a way of curses as God proclaims in today’s Old Testament lesson. He says: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse” (Deuteronomy 30:19). So, walking in the way of obedience is a blessing. But how so? How could it be a blessing to renounce everything?
[Christ Paid the Cost]
Jesus says that we must take a good long look at what it means to be His disciple. So, take a good long look, take a good long listen. He says, “Wake up, pay attention and count the cost.” You see, being a disciple of Christ is not always fun and games.
Remember, Christ bore the sufferings for the whole world upon Himself. He suffered and died on our behalf. So, we won’t end up suffering that. But we will bear crosses. We will have conflicts in families. If our parents, spouses, or siblings come between us and the Lord, we must choose the Lord. If holding on to our lives in the face of martyrdom, we must be willing to give up our lives. If not, we cannot be Christ’s disciple. So, we must count the cost.
Being a disciple is tough. But even as it is difficult, we know that we are always blessed. We have a cost to consider, but Jesus paid the ultimate cost. So, our costs pale in comparison to what Jesus did for us. You see, Jesus paid the entire price. So, even when our days are difficult, we still stand very blessed.
Jesus concludes saying: “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?” (Luke 14:34). Salt is critical in a world that lacks other means in preserving food. Just as salt preserves meat, our faith in Christ needs to be preserved. The Means of Grace — Word and Sacrament — is the salt that preserves our faith in Christ.
Christ knows that we are not perfect. He knows of our failures. He knows that we don’t always put Him first, despite our pledge for allegiance. Thanks be to God that when we fail to put Christ first, we can confess that sin and receive His forgiveness. To us, who are poor, miserable sinners, He says to us: “Peace be with you! Your sins are forgiven!” This is why we are here. We are here to receive Christ’s gift of forgiveness. We are here to receive salt to strengthen our weak faith.
So, in a way, Christianity is easy. It’s easy, because we don’t have to scrounge around for methods to get in good with God. We are good with Him already – thanks to Jesus, and all we have to do is believe wholeheartedly that Jesus has taken care of everything. He paid the price. The cost has been accepted. All we can do is trust in Jesus for our salvation for He has paid the cost. Amen!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
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