 |
Wis 9:13-18b
Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17
Phmn 9-10, 12-17
Lk 14:25-33 Full Readings
Conditions of Discipleship
This Sunday, Jesus does not pull his punches, and so delivers a series of devastating body-blows to anyone who is looking for easy discipleship. All through this journey up to Jesus’ own death at Jerusalem the cost of discipleship has been a recurrent theme: ‘Let the dead bury their dead’, the Parable of the Rich Fool, ‘From one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded’, ‘Father against son, son against father’, and now ‘Hate father and mother’ and ‘Give up all your possessions,’ and many other demand of discipleship. Jesus does not want us to follow him blindly. Instead, he gives us a series of what is required of us if we are to become his true disciples. After knowing these then we can willingly, knowing the consequences of our choice, choose to either become his disciple or not. Let us see what conditions Jesus demands of us today in order to be his true disciple.
Detachment from the World: Jesus invites us to renounce all of their possessions, "anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” Jesus wants us to follow him with our whole hearts. It is part of the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). When worldly possessions take up space in our hearts that should belong to God, he cannot fully reside there. Becoming detached from worldly things is a process that God wants to guide us through. Do we allow him to work this way in our hearts?
Carrying our Crosses: "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." Jesus willingly embraced the cross and knew that the cross was the Father's way for him to achieve victory over sin and death - and glory for our sake as well. He counted the cost and said 'yes' to his Father's will. If we want to share in his glory and victory, then we, too, must 'count the cost' and say 'yes" to his call to "take up our cross and follow him" as our Lord and Savior. Our cross means that when my will crosses with God's will, then his will must be done. The way of the cross involves sacrifice, the sacrifice of laying down my life each and every day for Jesus' sake. We do not have to lift our crosses alone because Christ himself lifts them with us. We begin to see ourselves as children of God and his beloved disciples. May we strive, to carry our crosses daily and let go of our own glory so as to share in Christ’s true glory.
Hate your Family? “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." This can easily be misunderstood unless we understand the meaning of hate in the Bible. Hate in the Bible is not a feeling of resentment, anger, malice, violence or even wishing the other bad, it is referred to as preferring less. Jesus therefore is saying that the first preference should be God, nothing should come in our way of serving God even our families. By adding 'more than me,' it is plain that he permits us to love, but not more than we love him. He demands our highest affection for himself and that very correctly. The love of God in those who are perfect in mind has something in it superior both to the honor due to parents and to the natural affection felt for children The first priority should be God and then then families and others can follow. This scripture is therefore not an excuse to treat those in the family, or anyone else, with spite, harshness, malice or the like. It is not an excuse to let the passion of anger well up in us. But it is a call from God to act in justice and truth and to refuse to allow anything to separate us from the love of God.
To place any relationship or any possession above God is a form of idolatry - worshiping the creature in place of the Creator and Ruler over all he has made. Jesus challenges his disciples to examine who and what they love first and foremost. We can be ruled and mastered by many different things - money, drugs, success, power or fame. Only one Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, can truly set us free from the power of sin, greed, and destruction. The choice is ours - who will we serve and follow - the path and destiny the Lord Jesus offers us or the path we choose in opposition to God's will and purpose for our lives. It boils down to choosing between life and death, truth and falsehood, goodness and evil. If we choose for the Lord Jesus and put our trust in him, he will show us the path that leads to true joy and happiness with our Father in heaven.
Counting the Cost: This is an ordinary common sense which Jesus used to pass his message. Nobody would go to shop without a budget, nobody would start building without enough money and others, otherwise, you become embarrassed. This is so too when one decides to become a Christian. There is no Christianity without a cost, otherwise it is not true Christianity. Jesus was utterly honest and spared no words to tell his disciples that it would cost them dearly to be his disciples - it would cost them their whole lives and all they possessed in exchange for the new life and treasure of God's kingdom. The Lord Jesus leaves no room for compromise or concession. We either give our lives over to him entirely or we keep them for ourselves. This is the same for us to follow Jesus we must be able to pay the cost even with our lives.
Brethren, there's no cheap grace; we have to work for it. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who died for his faith under the Nazi persecution of Jews and Christians, contrasted cheap grace and costly grace: "Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves... the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance... grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate... Costly grace is the Gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."
Reflect today on these conditions of discipleship which Jesus demands today. Take some time and see if you are ready to be a disciple of Jesus or not.
Let us Pray
Lord Jesus, grant me the grace to surrender everything that makes up my life to you and your service without reserve. I surrender to you my life, my finances, my possessions, my family, my labors and my entire future. Let me be your true disciple. Amen
Be blessed
No comments:
Post a Comment