The Cost of Discipleship
Lucas 14:25-33 - The Cost of Discipleship
This is the Gospel for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother... and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." - Lk 14:26-27
1. Introduction - The Crowd Problem
My dear brothers and sisters, Luke tells us: "Great crowds were traveling with Jesus." They were fascinated, excited, following because of the miracles, the healings, the free bread. And Jesus turns around and says something that sounds terrible: You must hate your father and mother. You must renounce everything. Why? Because Jesus does not want fans. He wants disciples.
A fan follows when it is convenient. A disciple follows to the Cross.
2. What Does "Hate" Mean? A Common Misconception to Correct
In our Hebrew way of speaking, "to hate" does not mean to despise. It is a Semitic expression of preference.
Misconception: "God wants me to reject my family."
Catholic Correction: God commands us to honor father and mother - 4th Commandment. What Jesus means is: Love God first, so you can love your family rightly. As the Catechism teaches: CCC 2232 - Family ties are important but not absolute. The first calling of the child is to follow Jesus.
St. Augustine says: "Love of family should be ordered by love of God. If you love God first, you will love your family even more, but with God's love." If your family says: "Don't go to Mass, don't become a priest, don't forgive" - whom do you follow? Christ must be first. This is the hierarchy of love - ordo amoris.
3. The Two Parables: The Tower and The King
Jesus gives us two small parables to make us think:
a) The man building a tower: Before you build, you sit down and calculate. Can I finish it?
Many start the Christian life with enthusiasm - Baptism, marriage, a ministry - but do not calculate. Prayer every day costs. Forgiving your enemy costs. Staying faithful in marriage costs. Jesus asks us today: Have you counted the cost? Do you have a daily prayer life to sustain the tower?
b) The king going to war: He has 10,000 soldiers against 20,000. He must discern if he can win. Our enemy is not flesh and blood, but sin, the world, and the devil. With our 10,000 alone, we will lose. We need the King who has the 20,000 - Christ Himself. This is why we cannot be disciples without grace, without the Sacraments.
As Dei Verbum 21 teaches, we need the strength that comes from Scripture and Tradition to fight this battle.
4. "Carry his own cross"
This is the heart of it. In Jesus' time, when you saw a man carrying a cross, you knew one thing: he was going to die. He was not coming back. To carry the cross is not just to endure annoyances - "my cross is my noisy neighbor." No.
To carry the cross is to die to self daily. To die to pride when I want to be right. To die to impurity when temptation comes. To die to greed when I want more.
CCC 1435, 2015: The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation.
And notice: "his own cross." Not my neighbor's. God has tailored a cross for you, for your sanctification. Don't compare. Carry yours.
5. "Renounce all his possessions"
The last line is the most radical: "Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple." Does Jesus want us all poor? He wants us all free.
Misconception: "If I own things, I cannot be holy."
Correction: The Church does not condemn possessions, but possessiveness. Lumen Gentium 42 calls us to use created goods with detachment. St. Francis de Sales, a great teacher for lay people, taught we can own things, but things must not own us.
Ask yourself: If God asked me to give this up - my phone, my money, my plan - could I? Detachment is the test.
Conclusion - The Choice
Jesus is not trying to scare the crowd away. He is trying to save them from an unfinished tower, from a lost war.
He loves them too much to lie to them.
Today He looks at you, Jessie, and at all of us, and says: I want everything. Not because I want to take from you, but because I want to give you everything in return. As CCC 521 says, Christ lived his life for us, so we might live our lives in Him.
So let us ask:
What is one thing I have not yet renounced that keeps me from following fully?
Let us bring it to the altar today.
Amen.
Closing Prayer from Luke 14 itself:
Lord Jesus, You who invite us to follow You without reserve, grant us the grace to prefer You above all. Give us wisdom to count the cost, courage to carry our cross, and a free heart detached from all that is not You. May our families be led to You through our love for You first. Amen.
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