How Much Will It Cost?
Luke 14:25-33[1]
We have a tendency to hear what we want to hear, at least to some
extent. There are some things that challenge us deeply, and we don’t much like
that. They are hard for us to truly hear. One of the most memorable phrases from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous
“I Have a Dream” speech is, “I have a dream that one day … little black boys
and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white
girls as sisters and brothers.” But there are other parts to the speech. Dr.
King also said that in the Declaration of Independence, the “architects of our
republic” wrote a “promissory note” that all races “would be guaranteed the
unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And he
chided America for writing people of color a “bad check” instead! That's hard for most of us to hear.
I’m afraid we have applied our “selective hearing” to Jesus’ words
as well. There are some of Jesus’ teachings that we cherish. Sayings like,
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will
give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Or “Let the little children come to me” (Matt.
19:14). Or “today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). These are
words that reassure us, that comfort us, that encourage us. But there are other
teachings of Jesus that we (purposefully I think) ignore. Like the one about
tearing out your right eye or cutting off your right hand in order to avoid
sin!
Our lesson for today is probably one of the most ignored teachings
of Jesus. This chapter contains some of the most deeply challenging demands
Jesus makes on those who would follow him as disciples. Here Jesus says to the
crowds, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my
disciple” (Lk. 14:26)! I would say that has always cut deeply against the grain
for those who heard this. In fact, even Matthew’s Gospel softens the harshness
of this saying a bit: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not
worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of
me” (Matt 10:37).
Of course, in this passage Jesus also says that those who do not
bear the burden of the cross and who do not give up all their possessions
cannot follow him as disciples. Those are deeply challenging demands as well.
But I think the part about hating your parents, your spouse and your children,
your brothers and sisters, and even your own life is probably the most
challenging to us. It’s positively offensive. Family ties are some of the most
important ones to us. Why would Jesus try to sever family ties that the human
race has cherished through millennia?
I think part of the answer may be found, as is often the case in
Luke’s Gospel, in the introduction to the passage: “Now large crowds were
traveling with him” (Lk. 14:25). This isn’t the only place in the Gospels where
Jesus speaks rather harshly to the crowds that followed him. On one occasion he
scolded them for following him simply because they had their fill of bread (Jn
6:26). On another, he chided them for the fact that “this generation is an evil
generation” because they came to him seeking some miraculous sign upon which
they could rest their faith (Lk. 11:29). I think Jesus knew that many in the
crowds that followed him had their own ideas about who Jesus was and what he
had come to bring them. He rather bluntly rebuked that shallow spiritual
“thrill-seeking”!
I think, however, that these “hard sayings” Jesus spoke were not
just for the spiritual “sightseers” who flocked to him. They were also meant for
his disciples. Jesus warned them that his commitment to God’s kingdom and God’s
justice meant that he was going to be cruelly executed on a cross. And he also
warned them that they would share that fate. Elsewhere he says, “If any want to
become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and
follow me” (Lk 9:23). Interestingly, the word for “bearing” the cross is a
different one here. It is a word that implies bearing a burden that is heavy,
and continuing to bear that burden over time. I think Jesus was pressing his
own disciples as to whether they were “willing to stay with [him] all the way.” [2]
Another part of solving this problem can be found in the
parables Jesus tells to explain the point of what he is trying to say. In both
of them, the point of the parable is that it’s a normal part of life to
calculate the cost before launching a venture. And that seems to be the point
of Jesus’ demand that in order to be his disciple one must “hate” one’s family,
continually bear up under the burden of the cross, and give away all
possessions. More than once, Jesus made it clear to his disciples that they
must count the cost of following him. Following Jesus would be the way they
would truly find their lives, but it would also cost them all that they held
dear.
I don’t believe that Jesus wants any of us to literally hate our
families, any more than he literally demanded us to go get ourselves executed
or to give up everything we own. I think the point of this passage is that the commitment
to following Jesus is one that takes precedence over every other commitment in
life. But it also stands as a warning: those who choose to follow a Savior who
was cruelly executed must recognize that decision will come with a cost. And
yet at the same time, the promise is that, however much it will cost us to
follow Jesus, only by losing our lives for his sake will we truly find our
lives.
[1][1] ©Alan
Brehm 2019. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 9/8/2019 at Hickman
Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2]
Fred Craddock, Luke, 181.
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