MESSAGE: Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost 4 September 2022
THEME: The demands of discipleship – take up your cross
Imagination: What do you think of when you hear the word SPRING?
What do you think of when you hear the word Disciple/Following Jesus?
A few weeks back we have been seeing in the Scriptures of knowing where you are going.
How do you follow Jesus wholeheartedly – giving your all?
The essential message of this week’s readings boils down to two things:
- We are constantly faced with the choice to do the right thing or not;
- Doing the right thing (or following Jesus, if you will) is very costly.
Unfortunately, in our world, expediency, short-term thinking and prosperity preaching have all made the Gospel of counting the cost very unpopular.
But, in truth, life is not found in quick fixes, or in giving in to our appetites – we know this.
Life is found in following Christ’s sacrificial, life-giving ways – which is what it means, really, to do the right thing.
God knows our intentions and our hopes, reshaping us when we do what is wrong, and responding to our repentance with mercy.
We count the cost of our actions, but Jesus calls us to let go of our attachments and follow him in a life of love and care for others.
This mystery is beyond our understanding.
So let’s dig a little deeper!
The Gospel of Luke is crowded with crowds who are “filled with awe” (5:26) at Jesus’ words and deeds. Multitudes hear Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain (6:17–49); a large crowd watches as Jesus raises a widow’s son at Nain; they glorify God, praising Jesus as “a great prophet” (7:11–17). A captivating teacher and wonderworker, Jesus is acclaimed and followed by thousands (9:14; 12:1).
What Jesus is doing is utterly astonishing.
An agent of unparalleled importance in the Third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles is that Jesus is empowered by the Holy Spirit (3:22; 4:1, 14, 18; 10:21), What God is doing in Jesus is nothing short of spectacular.
Understand that Luke 14:26 is not advocating intense hostility toward our families and life, but, rather, is promoting the steadfast refusal to allow something less valuable to displace something more valuable.
Jesus is challenging listeners to embrace a singular commitment and allegiance to him.
Remember Jesus’ declaration in 8:20–21 that his true family are not blood relatives but “those who hear the word of God and do it.” There is the new household of faith (Galatians 6:10; see also Ephesians 2:19) sustained by the invincible love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:35–39).
Explaining the challenges of discipleship, Jesus draws comparisons to two other initiatives: building a tower and undertaking a military campaign.
Both of these require advance assessment of available resources and capacity.
Builders dare not begin structures they cannot finish, and a ruler should yield before battle if the adversary enjoys an overwhelming advantage.
Concerning the illustration of building a tower: how could any disciple assess in advance whether they have the resources to stand firm in the face of social ostracization, incarceration, torture, or the threat of execution?
Remember that in all four Gospels, Peter learns in advance about an upcoming moment of betrayal—his threefold denial of Jesus—and nevertheless will prove unable to avoid that heartbreaking renunciation of allegiance to his Lord.
Luke has crafted a brilliant puzzle here: the building project is no measurable structure of clay and timber but the kingdom of God, and the battle, already underway, is being waged on no earthly battlefield.
Would-be disciples must acknowledge at the outset that following Jesus will cost them everything, and they cannot know what lies ahead until they take up the cross and follow their Lord.
Jesus’ followers have been given the sternest warning Jesus can deliver—yet it spurs only eagerness for the journey.
Those who choose the way of the cross after this will be joyful to persevere daily, for their Lord has already exhorted them to take up their cross “daily” (9:23). T
The daily choice to follow Jesus is vital for Luke’s perspective on discipleship.
When facing adversity, disciples must look daily neither to kinship networks nor to some other resource or power to save them.
They must look only to Jesus.
Jesus concludes with a powerful statement symbolising what he has just been saying: those who follow him must be ready to give up everything they have (14:33).
Following Jesus must be at the heart of all that a disciple undertakes.
What are some examples of following Jesus in all things daily? To live whole heartedly into love of God and neighbour.
Counting the cost – what about counting the benefits? We need the wider context of the lost sheep, lost coin coming up.
What are the benefits?
God knows our intentions and our hopes, reshaping us when we do what is wrong, and responding to our repentance with mercy.
We count the cost of our actions, but Jesus calls us to let go of our attachments and follow him in a life of love and care for others.