Text: Luke 14:25-35
Date: September 4, 2022
Event: Proper 18, Year C
Luke 14:25-35 (EHV)
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. He turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, if he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, everyone who sees it will begin to ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This fellow began to build, but was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, as he goes out to confront another king in war, will not first sit down and consider if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32And if he is not able, he sends out a delegation and asks for terms of peace while his opponent is still far away. 33So then, any one of you who does not say farewell to all his own possessions cannot be my disciple. 34Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? 35It is not fit for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
What Does it Cost to be Jesus’ Disciple?
When you’re getting ready to go away from home for a few hours or a few days, what are some things you have to think through? A lot of it focuses on what you’ll be doing, right? You’ll prepare differently for an afternoon spent in Golden Gate Park than a three day business conference in Dallas. You have to think through where you’ll be and what you’ll be doing to ensure that you’re prepared properly for it. You probably have to factor in time, weather, and what you have available to you.
Planning is important, and can be a lot of work. If you don’t have a natural inclination toward being a planner, doing a good job preparing for something can be a ton of mental and even emotional work. But being well-prepared, especially when you won’t have the time or ability to make adjustments where you’ll be is often the difference between a good experience and a miserable experience.
In our Gospel for this morning, Jesus is urging those following him to plan and consider the cost of what it means to be his disciple. We do well to listen as well, because nothing has changed between then and now. Being Jesus’ disciple, being a Christian, has a cost associated with it in this life. If we are not well prepared for it, the hardships of this life may lead us away from the forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus has won for us and freely gives to us.
Our reading continues down the path of the middle of Luke’s Gospel that we’ve been walking for the last several weeks. Two weeks ago we heard Jesus directing us to strive for the narrow door, and last week we heard him remind us to approach this life with humility. This week, he urges us to consider what it costs to be focused on that door and being humble in this life. What does it mean for here and now as well as for eternity to be Jesus’ disciple?
Jesus’ first statement is kind of alarming: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Is Jesus saying I must hate my family to be a Christian? Is self-loathing a requirement for heaven? That’s not what he’s saying, but he is saying something not too far from it. We actually heard Jesus make a related point three weeks ago when he said: Do you think that I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. Yes, from now on there will be five divided in one household: three against two, and two against three. They will be divided: father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law (Luke 12:51-53).
The heart of what Jesus is asking people to consider is what is most important to you. If there was a conflict between doing what your spouse wanted and following Jesus’ direction, who should win? If there was a conflict between being personal desires and what Jesus says, what should win? While hatred is a strong term, Jesus is clear that he must take priority over all things, even our most personal feelings and our closest relationships.
Living according to God’s will is always going to be at odds with the things of this world, and thus will put us at odds with anyone thinking about things from a worldly point of view—including ourselves. Being a Christian will be difficult; Jesus calls it carrying your cross to make clear that this isn’t always going to be pleasant. That’s not to say that every moment of a Christian’s life will be pure misery, far from it. But when those troubling things happen, when those crosses are placed on our shoulders, when we bear these burdens in the short term or the long term, it should not come as a surprise.
Jesus uses that truth to teach a powerful reminder: you need to take this into account when you figure in whether being a Christian is worth it. There is a real cost associated with this life, and we do well to consider that rather than just blindly following what seems best or what our parents or friends are doing. Jesus uses the example of a man starting a building project. He has to consider if he has enough resources to complete the project. He has to know what it costs before he starts to make sure he doesn’t just peter out. Likewise, the king going into battle, needs to weigh the cost and determine if he can win even if he’s outgunned, and if not to try to make peace before the fighting begins.
What’s the alternative to either of those situations? The man who starts the building project and runs out of resources will be left with a construction site and the shame of not being able to finish what he started. Everyone who sees it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build, but was not able to finish.’ Likewise, the king who doesn’t carefully consider the situation in front of him may have his authority ripped away from him while losing many lives, perhaps even his own. Starting something and not being able to finish it because you didn’t anticipate what was coming leads to disaster.
The same is true for the Christian life. If someone becomes a Christian but then doesn’t know that it’ll be tough, may have that difficulty choke his desire for Jesus out of him. And if the crosses we must bear as Christians leave us abandoning the Christian faith, what we will face after this life will be the same disaster (or even worse) than it would have been if we had never believed in the first place. If we give up on our faith in Jesus as our Savior, it doesn’t matter that we at one time believed. Abandoning our faith midstream leads to hell the same way that a lifetime of unbelief does.
That’s the point Jesus is making with the salt. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? It is not fit for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Salt was far more important to people in Jesus’ day than it is in ours. It wasn’t just about flavor; it was a preserving agent in the eras before refrigeration. If salt lost the qualities it needed to be considered salt, it was worthless. It wouldn’t preserve anything, it wouldn’t flavor anything. Unlike spoiled vegetables that may be mixed into the ground to fertilize it or into the manure to aid in the breakdown of that compost, salt that isn’t salty is utterly worthless. It’s just thrown away.
As a Christian, Jesus says you are the salt of the earth. But abandoning your faith for any reason, including the difficulty associated with being a Christian in this world, leads you to be discarded like unsalty salt.
We do well to consider what it costs to be a Christian. Jesus is not the easy way through this life. Jesus is not the path of least resistance. In many ways, because Jesus sets you against the attitudes of the world around you, being Jesus’ disciple is the path of most resistance. It is more difficult to be a Christian in this life and live a life of thankfulness to God than it is to not be a Christian at all.
All of this ties into what Jesus has been saying for weeks in our Gospels. It’s difficult to strive for the narrow door. It’s difficult to be last in this life and look forward to being first in eternity. It’s difficult to live in humility.
Who is up to this task? No one. Not you, not me, not even the most pious, faithful believer that you’ve ever known. Without God’s grace we would abandon this calling, we would abandon this life, we would leave the construction site half finished and walk away to our eternal demise. But with God’s grace? By his grace we see the value in building that tower, so with his aid we strive to complete no matter the cost. By his grace we see the strategy to the battle of this life and with his aid strive to execute on it. By his grace we see the importance of being his salt in the world and with his aid continue to preserve this world by living and sharing his love.
By God’s grace we see the value of Jesus. The cost his high, absolutely. Unbearably high if we were on our own. But we are not on our own. We see that Jesus is the solution to our sin. Every time we’ve felt the pull to just walk away from him, we know that he has forgiven us. Every time that we’ve begun to think that this life isn’t worth it, he’s there to point us to the reality: his life and death paid for every sin which means we will be eternally safe.
We asked the question earlier if it was worth it to follow Jesus, to endure these hardships. The answer is absolutely “yes.” Because he provides infinite, eternal good and peace, not the temporary reprieve of this life. To couch it in financial terms, would you rather have a thousand dollars or an infinite supply of money and resources? That’s the difference between peace here and peace for eternity.
Being a Christian may mean divisions here, crosses that are difficult to bear, and temptations to walk away. But Jesus’ forgiving love guards us and guides us in that. What you are looking for is not a temporary joy that will eventually evaporate; you’re looking forward to the eternal joy that your Savior has prepared for you. Acknowledge that the cost is high, but see that it is absolutely worth it.
And support one another. As Christians, we are not left to bear these crosses alone. Offer to help your brothers and sisters in their hardships; share your need or desire for help in bearing the crosses that Jesus allows to come into your life. Together, we count the cost; together, we bear the crosses; together, we look forward to the perfect eternal life with out Savior who lived and died to forgive our every sin and failing. Dear Christian, press on no matter what the cost, because you press on with your Savior now and forever. Amen.
