Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple

 

 Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  

 

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. 

"Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

 

- Luke 14:25–35 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus was invited to dine in the home of a ruler of the Pharisees, teaching about humility, and addressing the guests in a parable.  Yesterday, we read that He continued to teach him who invited Him, addressing hosts.  He said, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."  Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'  But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'  So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"

 

  Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple."  My study Bible comments that this command to hate one's kindred and one's own life also isn't to be taken literally.  Instead, we are to hate the way our relationships with others can hinder our total dedication to the Kingdom of God -- which takes precedence even over family ties. 

"And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."  This is a repetition of a similar teaching found at Luke 9:23.  Perhaps, now that great multitudes went with Him, the teaching is a bit more emphatic:  one must bear one's cross and come after Christ -- or one cannot be His disciple.  My study Bible comments on the earlier passage that each person must take up one's own cross.  It notes that the burden in this world is different for each person, and each has been chosen by God to bear certain struggles for one's own salvation and the salvation of those around oneself.  In that earlier passage, Jesus emphasizes that this must be done daily.  In other words, commitment to Christ isn't simply a one-time event or proclamation.  It is the continual practice of faith and obedience, even to the point of being shamed and persecuted by the world. 

 

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."  With reference to this parable of building a tower, my study Bible cites St. Paul's letter at 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, in which St. Paul speaks of himself as a master builder who lays a foundation which another builds upon.  In that passage, St. Paul speaks about his fellow workers, and how they will build upon that foundation appropriately   This passage in today's reading shows us that St. Paul follows Christ in so teaching, for Christ's teaching here once again enforces the kind of loyalty He commands as required for discipleship.  Jesus Himself forsakes all he has, and so he asks of us as well.  As God's fellow workers, my study Bible notes of St. Paul's passage, we cooperate with the Lord to do His will.  As He so often tells parables of discipleship using the illustration of servants, we consider that He is the Lord, and we are His servants who are called to participate obediently in His work.  

 

 "Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Here is another emphatic teaching on the requirement for discipleship.  This saying is also found in the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus couples this teaching on the image of disciples as salt, and also as light (see Matthew 5:13-16).  My study Bible comments that because of its preservative powers, its necessity for life, and its ability to give flavor, salt had both religious and sacrificial significance (Leviticus 2:13; see also Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5).  To eat salt with someone meant to be bound together in loyalty.  As the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13), my study Bible says, Christians are preservers of God's covenant and give true flavor to the world.  

So Jesus emphasizes covenant with His comparison of disciples to salt.  This is made clear by my study Bible's exposition on salt in the commentary on the reference in the Sermon on the Mount, as referenced above.  This "fixative" and preserving power of salt was ubiquitous in the ancient world, before refrigeration was possible; many foods were treated with salt to prevent the growth of bacteria so they would remain fit for consumption and nourishment.   This preserving power is referenced as a kind of binding, like taking an oath, with a long history in Israel, as my study Bible says, of association with covenant and friendship.  So Christ is emphasizing the nature of discipleship, not simply as something which is good and helpful, but which is necessary for life, for the thriving of the world.  If we wonder how salt can lose its flavor, the ancient world's salt crystals indeed could leach sodium chloride through exposure to water and thus lose its saltiness.  But to really get the "flavor" of today's reading and Jesus' words, we have to take it as a whole, and to recognize that what He's calling for is a rigorous determination on the part of His disciples, to be ready -- like good soldiers or a king going out to meet an enemy, or a man preparing to build a tower -- to commit to seeing the project all the way through, no matter what it may ask of them.  It is in this spirit that Jesus teaches us what it might mean to carry a cross.  In this season of elections here in the United States of America, many comment here and around the world regarding the phenomenon of both friendships and family relations being broken and severed over political affiliation or opinion.  In a modern democracy we are ostensibly aware of many opinions, and also conditioned to accept such differences as a matter of norm in our societies.  But if these common differences are now causing such disruption in relationships, one only need to consider for a moment what something as momentous and deep as one's commitment of the soul to Christ can carry in terms of our own loyalty, and others' response to that commitment.  A deep and dedicated devotion to Christ may ask of us to make commitments that offend others whom we love, differing on matters of conscience, or even opinions about Christ Himself.  As we know, Jesus sets the pattern that He will voluntarily go to the Cross, to His Crucifixion, in obedience to the Father's will for Him.  This voluntary sacrifice remains a scandal for some, perplexing for many, and a point of contention in terms of its effects and power among different denominations and theological perspectives.  But one thing is clear, if Christ Himself was asked to undertake this Cross and this sacrifice for all of us, then none of us can refuse a cross of our own.  In our modern affluent societies, it might be offensive in and of itself to some to suggest that sacrifice is something we will all encounter as disciples of Christ, but nonetheless it remains truth and a part of Scripture.  We might separate from a friend (or even relatives) because we don't like the practices of gossip or scapegoating we consistently find.  Perhaps our criticism of such habits alone is enough to create rage in others.  What we perceive as unjust or unfair is another possible point of difference that can spark separation, and the Cross that Christ undertook has everything to do with injustice, in which the innocent suffer.  We ourselves may undertake that role, as did Christ, and suffer for telling the truth when others would prefer convenient and less disruptive lies instead.  Whatever way our cross comes to us, we can't ignore Jesus' emphatic and repeated teachings here.  In Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus sends out the apostles on their first mission, He speaks about this division in families, adding, "And you will be hated by all for My name's sake."  He reminds them that "a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!" (see Matthew 10:16-25).  If disciples remain today as "sheep among wolves" then how are we to avoid conflict?  Jesus' call for believers to be like salt that does not lose its flavor is a call to steadfastness even in the face of what we might lose that we hold precious for the sake of the gospel.  Let us consider how this mission today might include our own cross, and what we put first in life. 

 

And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just

 

 Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  

 

Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'  But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'  

 

"So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"

 

- Luke 14:12-24 

 

On Saturday, we read that it happened, as Jesus went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.  So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 

 Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."  My study Bible comments that this instruction is based on the manner in which God treats us, although not one of us could possibly repay God (see Luke 6:30-36).  Regarding Christ's words, "you shall be repaid," see Luke 10:34-35.

 

 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  My study Bible comments that this man unwittingly declares the ultimate beatitude.  The truth in his words can come only through an understanding of the bread to be eternal communion with God.  

Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'"  Here Jesus begins a parable which operates on two levels.  My study Bible says that these two levels illustrate both the fist and second coming of Christ.  He is the servant who's sent to gather many.  Supper is an indication that it is evening; in other words, the end of the age.  The people who are first invited are the Jews, then all humankind. 

 

"But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'"  My study Bible explains that in patristic commentary these three excuses are seen as having both a literal and spiritual meaning.  The literal meaning is that many are too attached to worldly cares to accept the Kingdom of God (Luke 8:14, 14:26, 18:29).  St. Ambrose, it says, sees the three excuses of I cannot come as representing Gentiles, Jews, and heretics.  The Gentile is devoted to earthly wealth represented by the piece of ground, the Jew's enslavement to the five books of the Law by the five yoke of oxen, and the heretic's espousal of error by the man refusing on account of his wife.  Theophylact, however, more generally associates these excuses with people devoted to earthly concerns, to things which pertain to the five sense, and to all the pleasures of the flesh.  

"So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"   Here my study Bible comments that those in the streets and lanes indicate first, the Gentiles who accepted Christ after the faithless Jews rejected Him, and second, those outside the Church replacing those within who have rejected their own baptism.  The apostles would be sent out into the streets and lanes and highways and hedges of all the world, to preach the gospel. and their successors continue.

 

On Saturday, we read the first part of Christ's teaching to the people who sat at table with Him in the home of one of the rulers of the Pharisees.  In it, He taught about humility, and the need for a guest to display humility.  In the first part of today's reading, He continues by addressing His teaching to hosts:  "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."  This parable also teaches us about humility, but in a different sense.  He asks those who are in a position to host others to consider condescension -- not in the colloquial way we have of speaking that renders condescension an act of smug superiority, but in the sense that to be gracious is the highest and best prerogative of those in a position to host others.  That is, those with wealth and position enough to do so.  In the West, we are mostly affluent enough so that inviting others to a dinner or supper is common; nor is it required of us to be an ostentatious occasion.  But nevertheless, Christ's teaching applies to all of us.   Just imagine, instead of inviting people we hope to receive something back from, we invite those who have no way to repay us.  Jesus teaches these impressive guests at the dinner in the ruler's house to invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  These are people who don't have much status to offer in return to those who invite them to their table as guests.  These are the people who, in Christ's time. would certainly find it difficult to earn much wealth or status in the society.  But Jesus gives a deeper hint here of an important principle that is more than our conventional understanding of laudable acts of charity.  Jesus is teaching us a principle that hooks us in to even the mysteries of the Cross, and one that plays a role in each of our lives and where we will spend an eternity at the resurrection of the just.  In this teaching, He gives us a mystery of what it is to sacrifice; that is, to give something up for the sake of the kingdom of God, and for love of the Lord.  In essence, He's teaching us that this is a kind of investment, something that is stored in "money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys" (Luke 12:33).  This is what the Cross is all about, it is the deepest mystery of how we can give something for the Kingdom and reap what God gives us in return, and in this sense we will be blessed in the depth of that mystery.  For we are all meant to take up our own crosses in following Him, and each has a harvest of repayment in ways we don't know and cannot foresee.  This is how we put our heart in the place it needs to be:  "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Luke 12:34).  St. Chrysostom taught a lot about understanding our wealth as that which also belongs, in God's sight, in the stomachs of the poor, giving thought to more than what we can acquire purely for ourselves.  It's God's logic to find our treasure where God's blessedness is for us, in the places where we follow Christ's word first.  This is how we will eat bread in the kingdom of God. 

 

 

For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted

 

 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.  

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 

- Luke 14:1–11 

 

Yesterday we read that some Pharisees came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You."  And He said to them, "Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'  Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

 

Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.  Here Jesus once again builds on His words from earlier in the chapter, when He spoke to the ruler of the synagogue, who objected to His healing of a woman oppressed with a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years (see this reading from Wednesday).  Here He eats with scribes and Pharisees, in the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees.  They watched Him closely to catch Him so they might accuse Him (Luke 6:7).  Jesus is, of course, aware of this, so we know that all of His actions and words are chosen deliberately to teach.  This is the second time He mentions the efforts to save the life of an animal on the Sabbath, comparing it to their attitude toward healing human beings on the Sabbath.  We note that the animals are useful work animals, needed for commerce or produce or transport.

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  This parable is directed toward guests (and will be followed in Monday's reading with one directed to hosts).  In imitation of Christ, my study Bible comments, perfect humility is expected of guests -- and we will see that boundless charity is demanded of hosts (see James 4:6).

Jesus teaches a lesson about humility in today's reading, as He addresses guests in His parable.  But clearly, Jesus does not simply speak to those at this particular table, nor is He simply teaching us about good manners.  (Although, frankly, this is a good teaching on being a guest and how humility is the basis for what has come to be understood as good manners.)   In the tradition of the Church -- especially the monastic tradition -- humility has come to be understood as the foundation for all the rest of the virtues, and the gateway to the rest of them.  For without humility, we first of all cannot honor God as properly we should be doing.  How does one honor God if we cannot put consideration of self second, and God first?  How do we learn and grow without humility?  For if we put ourselves as front and center of what we know, we are not going to be open enough to reconsider our opinions or be willing to allow a little light to change our minds, or to reveal new things we don't already know.  Moreover, one has to consider the primary importance of repentance to Christ's preaching and the message of the Kingdom, even from the prophets who came before, and John the Baptist who prepared the way in Christ's lifetime (Matthew 3:1-2).  To repent is to turn around, to change one's mind, to go from one road to another.  Repentance is not possible without some degree of humility, putting our own opinion second to something better.  So, Christ's words here in this parable teach us about God's response to our humility.  To be offered the more generous place at the table, to go up higher in the sense of glory as Christ uses that word here ("Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you"), is to be recognized in terms of our capacity for that honor.  In John's Gospel, Jesus tells the religious leaders, "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?" (John 5:44).  In this sense, Jesus gives us this teaching:  "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  We will not find the honor that comes from the only God without first having the humility to seek it, and to put God first, before our own limited understanding of what is great, and good, and true.  Christ cannot say to us, "Friend, go up higher" unless we first are capable of advancing into the reality that He offers, the truths of the gospel He teaches, the mysteries of the kingdom of God (Luke 8:10).  It's also clear that there's another layer to the parable, and that's as it's directly told to these Pharisees and scribes (lawyers) who join Him at table at the home of one of the rulers of the Pharisees.  All of these are the elite and educated of their time, the ones who are experts in the Law and the faith, who would spend all their time debating Scripture and the commands found therein.  So, their understanding of what is lawful and what is not is something they put great store in, so secure are they in their zealotry.  But Jesus' parable is a reminder that they shouldn't be so secure in what they absolutely think they know, and it's also a hint that they don't really know the Person they sit at table with.  They have no idea that He is Lord, and will be their Judge.  Humility, then, is their only key to hope, to be able to see what they don't know, and to learn what they need to learn, to find the only One who can tell them, "Friend, go up higher."  Then they will quite literally "have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you."  As they are in their worldly roles, they consider themselves to be the exalted ones, even as Christ is warning them, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

 

 Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.  

"Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

 

- Luke 14:25-35 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus was casting out a demon, and it was mute.  So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.  But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.  But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.  If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?  Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they will be your judges.  But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.  But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.  He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters."  

 

  Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."  The lectionary jumps ahead from where we left off on Saturday, skipping over Luke 11:24-14:24.  We know that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, and here we're told that great multitudes went with Him.  Just as in Monday's reading of last week Jesus spoke of the rigors of discipleship, here the question has come up once again.  My study Bible comments that the command to hate one's kindred and his own life also is not to be taken literally. Instead, we are to hate the way our relationships with others can hinder our total dedication to the Kingdom of God, which takes precedence even over family ties (as can also be read in last Monday's reading).  Moreover, this is put in the context of bearing one's own cross.  Once again, we review that each person must take up one's own cross.  My study Bible says that one's particular burden in this world is different for each person, and that each has been chosen by God to bear certain struggles for one's own salvation and the salvation of those around oneself.  In Luke 9:23, Jesus tells us we must take up our particular cross daily.  The commitment to discipleship is not a one-time event.  It is a continual practice of what has been called "faithfulness."  That is faith and obedience to Christ's commands, even to the point of being shamed and persecuted by the world.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.  Again, Jesus makes bold claims about the cost of discipleship.  My study Bible refers us to the sense in which disciples work together with God in carrying out ministry.  Jesus gives us a metaphor, to build a tower, and thus we think of ourselves as God's fellow workers, who cooperate with God's will.  By cooperation -- or what is called synergy (from the Greek word for "fellow workers") -- with God, we do not  work together as equals or in a kind of half-and-half arrangement.  Instead God is the Lord, and we are God's servants who are called to participate obediently in God's work.  Here, Jesus implies, our lives are in the hands of God, we in our commitment to discipleship, we should count that cost and be prepared for it.

 

 "Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses salt as metaphor, with a similar statement, calling His disciples the "salt of the earth" (see Matthew 5:13).   My study Bible comments that salt illustrates the role of disciples in society.  Because of its preservative powers, its necessity for life, and its ability to give flavor, salt had both religious and sacrificial significance (Leviticus 2:13; see also Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5).  To eat salt with someone, my study Bible further explains, meant to be bound together in loyalty.  As the salt of the earth, Christians are preservers of God's covenant and give true flavor to the world.  Here Jesus speaks of the value of salt, affirming His earlier words about the rigors and cost of discipleship.  A lack of adherence to discipleship is here compared to salt which has lost its flavor.

What sacrifices have you made for your faithfulness, for your choices to follow Christ?  Here Jesus says that discipleship will ask of us the entirety of what we have:  "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." What this seems to suggest is not that God demands of us extraordinary or inordinate sacrifices in some sense of payment or requirement, but rather that the love which God asks from us is a love that will take in all.  As we grow in discipleship, we will find a love that asks of us a whole heart, and as such, our whole lives as dedication to Christ's way ("I am the way, the truth, and the life" - John 14:6).  In other words, the cost of discipleship is a type of love that may ask us to change the very foundation of what it is we think we know about ourselves and our goals in life.  Where once one may have cherished a family as one's greatest possession or goal in life, the foundation of faith shifts us to the perception that family life -- and all relationships -- should be based within the framework of the love of God, who teaches us what it is to be in right-relationship.  It is from God we learn righteousness.  God, who is love, teaches us what it is to love.  Where once we might have considered possessions to be our greatest values, the love of God asks us to shift that perception instead to the values we carry with us, within us, and practice among us, in following Christ's commands and learning from Him ("Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" - Matthew 11:29-30).  Where once we pursued goals we're taught are good -- such as a successful career, or a good name among our peers, or even a particular social standing that would make parents proud -- we might instead pursue goals that please God.  Such goals might flip our own priorities upside down, because they would include care of "the least of these" (Matthew 25:45), and our time devoted to practices of prayer, spiritual disciplines, or our wealth to help those who are in need.  None of these "sacrifices" of time, energy, devotion, money, and so forth, preclude good goals in life or a healthy life of well-being.  But we place our judgment for priorities in God's hands, and as Christ says, we will no doubt be called upon to carry our own crosses, and like Him, say, "Not my will, but Yours, be done" (see Luke 22:42).  For discipleship will call us from places we thought were sacrosanct, to places we never thought we'd go, while nonetheless giving us prizes to cherish, even love we didn't think was possible, all given through grace.  To find ourselves as disciples is to find God's love for us as well as that love in the others to whom we're brought by God.  Let us count the cost and cherish the gifts we're given, including the elation true service can bring us.

 

 

So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple

 

 Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- least, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.  

"Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

 

- Luke 14:25-35 

 

Yesterday we continued the reading in which Jesus was a guest in the home of a Pharisee on the Sabbath.  (See the initial reading and Christ's teachings here.)   In yesterday's reading, He also said to those who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."  Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'  But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'  So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"   

 Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple."  My study Bible comments that this command to hate one's kindred and his own life also is not meant to be taken literally.  Instead we are meant to hate the way our relationships with others can hinder our total dedication to the Kingdom of God, which takes precedence even over family ties.  The stories of Christian martyrs often include family members who acted in cruel opposition to their faith in Christ.

"And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."  Again, as we have often noted in recent readings, here is the figure of the Cross which is clearly ahead of Jesus.  He knows this will be something known to all, and so, in front of the crowds, He teaches about each one's struggle in this, following Him.  Each person must take up one's own cross.  My study Bible comments that the burden in this world (and note the "worldly" element of family relationships already mentioned) is different for each person, and each has been chosen by God to bear certain struggles for one's own salvation and the salvation of those around oneself.  To come after Christ is to follow Him.  This means discipleship:  the continual practice of faith and obedience, even to the point of being shamed and persecuted by the world -- or as mentioned before, foregoing even close relationships that are harmful or destructive to faith.

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- least, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple."  My study Bible directs us to St. Paul's image of himself as a "wise master builder" in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, in which he speaks of laying a foundation upon which others may build, but each must take heed how they build and with what:  "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."  For what each builds will be tested by fire, and what remains will be revealed, "for the Day will declare it."  So Christ tells the crowds that discipleship is a greater project than we know, and we must count the cost, which is all.

"Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ taught very similarly, but directed to His disciples:  "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."  In ancient times, salt was quite precious, due to its preservative powers, its necessity for life, and its ability to give flavor.  My study Bible also comments that, additionally, salt had religious and sacrificial significance (Leviticus 2:13; see also Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5).  It says that to eat salt with someone meant to be bound together in loyalty.  As the salt of the earth, it says, Christians are preservers of God's covenant and give true flavor to the world.

Jesus says we must count the cost of discipleship if we are to set out on this road of following Him.  To follow Christ means to take up our cross and follow after Him.  As my study Bible indicates, this cross will be unique to each person.  Jesus says, "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple."  What does this mean to forsake all?  How are we supposed to figure that out, in advance?  Does it mean we give up all of our relationships and separate ourselves from what we know?  I cannot answer for others, nor for all the traditions of Christianity.  For many, the monastic life meant this in a very real sense, although it did not mean cutting oneself off from the love of others nor our prayers for all.  But what I have personally found in carrying this cross that began for me many years ago, almost despite myself I might say, is that all of my life was transfigured in the light of the Cross, by the Cross, by Christ.  That is, every aspect of my life, through prayer and ongoing development of faith, has meant re-examination and reconsideration, a new light shed by Christ, on what needs to change and what He asks of me.  Abusive relationships are subject to this light.  Even those who have abused us in some way, while we seek to forgive and pray for forgiveness for all, are subject to this transfiguring light and power of the Cross.  Sometimes one will have to draw boundaries.  It does not mean that we cease to pray or to love, but the strength of our faith comes first, the call of discipleship and of the Cross comes first, and this becomes our personal cross to bear in life.  This works in positive ways as well.  The things which I failed to understand or to perceive as a child growing up in church are also subject to the transfiguration by the light of the Cross.  Phrases I heard echoed to me as a child, passed down through the centuries of our faith -- such as, for example, "Lord have mercy" -- take on new meanings and new light and especially new depths through the Cross, and through the light of faith.  We may find ourselves in church praying for someone who has wronged us terribly -- a sense in which we know we don't want to be subject to more of the same, but nevertheless find in the Spirit the sense to do so.  We might find ourselves forgiving past wrongs done by those long dead in this life, but nevertheless praying for their souls in our own communion with God, and this, also, is the light of the Cross transfiguring our lives, giving us new light, and helping us to grow in faith and in understanding.  In this sense, our discipleship truly demands that we "forsake all" because Christ's light from His Cross will truly take in all of our lives.  We may find ourselves through this process of faith re-examining every single thing we ever learned at our mother's knee, and finding new ways to allow Christ to transform our thinking with -- most importantly -- God's love for us, and God's way of expanding our own sense of what love is and what love does.  Around each corner is a new sense of what it is to bear that cross, to go through the difficulties of our lives, the things that this world presents to us, and to find our place through them in the light of Christ.  In this way, we do "forsake all."  We will come to place all things in Christ's hands, and find them in the light of that transfiguring Cross, and thus following Him in all things with our own individual crosses wherever we are called in life, whatever our experiences.  And this is discipleship.  We give our hearts wholly to the leaven that leavens the whole lump bit by bit, from the inside out, even to those places in us we did not know existed.  In this way, our faith is like the mustard seed that grows to a sturdy bush which can shelter even the angels, the "birds of the air," as our lives grow in this faith in ways unexpected and unknown to us as we started out on this road to follow Him in all things.  We may have to cast off our old ideas about what "success" looks like, what a good life would be, and even the ways in which we thought our lives played out, simply by following Him and taking up our own crosses, for this is part of what it means to "forsake all" as well.  Discipleship is not simple nor easy, but it is a question of allowing the faith of Christ to illumine us, magnifying our baptism and its effects through a life of faith, and transfiguring all that we thought so that our lives reflect the foundation we're given, and so that what we build remains standing even through fire.  For the beauty of the world, the things truly worth building that withstand all else, are the things which are precious to Christ, to be revealed on that Day as the beauty that shines, the salt that remains true to its virtue and goodness and faith.

For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted

 

 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.  

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." 

 

- Luke 14:1-11 

 

Yesterday we read that some Pharisees came, saying to Jesus, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You."  And He said to them, "Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'  Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.  "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

 

  Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.  This argument continues from the events of the reading on Wednesday, in which Jesus healed a woman who'd been infirm for eighteen years.  That healing varied slightly, in the sense that her infirmity was seen as an affliction of an unclean spirit.  This illness, we should note, is not attributed to a spirit.  Dropsy was a term for edema, caused by heart failure which led to accumulation of fluid and resultant generalized swelling.  But the issue here which is taken up by Christ is the same one as at that earlier healing.  The scribes and Pharisees had built up traditions around the Law, and in that tradition healing was considered work; it therefore was not permissible on the Sabbath.  But, once again, building on His previous argument (in Wednesday's reading), Jesus brings up the issue of a working animal, for whom exceptions were made if its life were threatened on the Sabbath.  Hence, they cannot answer Him.

 

 So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  My study Bible points out that this parable is directed toward guests, while the one that follows (verses 12-14, to be included in Monday's reading) is directed toward hosts.  In imitation of Christ, it says, perfect humility is expected of guests, and boundless charity is demanded of hosts (see James 4:6).

The note in my study Bible regarding the command for perfect humility of guests, and boundless charity of hosts, should make us pause to think about what we might call today common courtesy, or good manners.  These traditions of charity, which over time became understood as good manners or courtesy, should not be forgotten as institutions made holy for us by Christ.  We can see in the readings in the Gospels the various aspects of formal practices at feasts and dinners which are mentioned, often coming from religious practice, such as formal washing of cups or other vessels (Mark 7:4).  Jesus also takes to task a particular host for being remiss by comparison to a notorious sinful woman who anoints Him with oil.  When Jesus knows that His host is scandalized by the woman, He first tells a parable about forgiveness and love, and then He says to him, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in."  These are customs of courtesy we may assume are present in the society.  But Jesus takes courtesy, especially in the forms of humility and charity (about which we shall read in Monday's reading) to another level, and renders them essentially commands of God.  In the practice of humility at public events, Christ speaks of gracious behavior.  In so doing, He says, we will be exalted and receive for ourselves a kind of glory in the presence of others.  This enshrining of gracious behavior is something we shouldn't forget in our own commerce and interaction with others, no matter the occasion.  For should we engage in both humble behavior or charitable behavior, in both cases we are not simply following the dictates of polite society or good manners, we are following Christ to be "like Christ."  These are commands for humility and compassion, for the practice of charity, for charity also depends on the graciousness of humility and not boastfulness or self-indulgence.  When we practice such practices of "good manners" we are, in effect, engaging in the spirit of Christ, treating others as we would be treated, and thus we can consider His words to be His gracious response to us:  "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."   Therefore let us ask ourselves to be consciously aware of such behaviors, and not consider the forms of social intercourse of every day life to be absent significance for Christ -- for here in today's reading He declares them to be so by preaching about them.  Every small instance of engagement with another, whether we are a guest or a host, or even simply a chance encounter, is an opportunity for participating in the spirit of God through such practices of humility and charity, both synonymous with gracious behavior.  It's my belief that we're given these teachings in the Gospels for significant reasons, therefore they should not be dismissed as mere social teachings or customs, but we must see them instead as precious to Christ through His own words here.  Jesus teaches us "what manner of spirit we are of" (Luke 9:55).  In the monastic tradition, hospitality was so treasured in response that even prayer would be interrupted in order to greet a stranger at the door.  In a modern secular context, we are often unaware what social class, wealth, education, and other differences make to people, and the significant impact they have on social interaction.  Such differences can be intimidating.  For one faithful to Christ, humility can be a form of recognizing these difficulties and treating all with equal graciousness and kindness, honoring the "poor in spirit" beloved of Christ (Matthew 5:3).   We can also understand Christ's words as teaching those with many blessings the absolute necessity for humility.  Let us take to heart the significance of each opportunity for doing as Christ commanded.  In the presence of the stranger or the one known to us, we are given an opportunity to serve Christ, no matter how insignificant or unknown to others we may consider the encounter to be.

 

 

 

 

 

Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple

 

 Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

"Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

 

- Luke 14:25–35 

 

On Saturday we read that Jesus was casting out a demon, and it was mute.  So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.  But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.  But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.  If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?  Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they will be your judges.  But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.  But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.  He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters."

 

 Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple."  My study Bible comments that this command to hate one's relations and one's own life isn't to be taken literally.  Instead, we are to hate the way our relationships with others can hinder our total dedication to the Kingdom of God, which takes precedence even over family ties.  

"And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."  Jesus repeats a statement we've read in Luke 9:23, something He said immediately after Peter's confession of faith, and in the context of His first warning to the disciples that He will suffer, be killed, and raised the third day.  My study bible asks us to observe that, first, each person must take up his own cross.  It says that the burden for each one in this world is different from person to person, and each has been chosen by God to bear certain struggles for one's own salvation and the salvation of those around oneself.  Second, in 9:23, Jesus states that one's cross is to be taken up daily.  This commitment is not a one-time event.  To come after Christ and be His disciple means the continual practice of faith and obedience, even to the point of being shamed and persecuted by the world -- and even to the point of separation from loved ones.

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."  My study Bible cites 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, an elaboration by St. Paul on this concept of building a structure properly upon what is first a proper foundation.  Each one's structure will reveal through its endurance, or lack of it, the proper work that has gone into the "tower" that is our lives.  Here, Jesus asks us to count the cost of discipleship, as those who plan well before starting out upon a project of any kind.  Our foundation is Christ, and that must remain our "bottom line" through all things, forsaking whatever is necessary in order to remain securely in that foundation.

"Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Jesus uses the analogy of salt in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13), again to illustrate the importance of endurance in discipleship.  My study Bible comments that salt illustrates the role of disciples in society.  Because of its preservative powers, its necessity for life, and its ability to give flavor, salt had both religious and sacrificial significance (Leviticus 2:13; see also Numbers 18:19, 2 Chronicles 13:5).   These references from the Old Testament teach us that salt was significant in terms of covenant.  To eat salt with someone meant to be bound together in loyalty.  As the "salt of the earth" (the phrase used in the Sermon on the Mount) my study Bible says, Christians are preservers of God's covenant, and give true flavor to the world.  In terms of the context here, Jesus is emphasizing our covenant as disciples, our endurance through all things in following Christ.

Jesus reminds us of the importance of counting the cost before setting out on a journey, or beginning a project of any kind, entering into battle.  One must seek to estimate what one will need to pay, or purchase, the labor and effort required, all the sacrifices that are necessary to do a complete job or see things through to the end.  He is reminding us, as His followers, that with Him it's all or nothing.  There is no lukewarm that is acceptable (see Revelation 3:14-22 for an assessment of a lukewarm church).  He is the foundation, and must remain the foundation.  When we put our faith in something else first, He will tear that down.  It will not endure.  We will all be refined in a furnace, as purified gold.  In Matthew's Gospel, we're reminded a couple of times that "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Matthew 10:22, 24:13).  Such words, on my part, seem terribly dire and dour.  But, on the other hand, for those who go through that fire and must make hard choices between where their faith leads them and where worldly attachments demand something else, the difficulties finally add up, in the end, to a liberation.  For it is in the truth of Christ that we really do find our freedom (John 8:31-32).  The world will draw us into a million different musts and have-to's.  You "must have" this type of house or clothing.  You "have to" do this because someone else has asked you to, or expects you to.  You "must" believe this because everybody seems to be saying it.  You "have to" join this group because that looks like the currently fashionable thing to do, at least among the au courant.  But Christ really doesn't ask us to do any of those things.  He doesn't demand that we become relevant to a set of values or circumstances that have nothing to do with our faith, and the genuine heart that is His refined gold and precious to Him.  Christ does not ask that we become caught up in the "right" appearances for the "right" people who will approve of whatever those things might mean about us in some social sense or to some group or community.  No, He is the foundation of our lives, and the currency we need to maintain that foundation is humility -- not faith in appearances and the judgment of the social world.  It really doesn't matter whether those approved signals to the world are million dollar homes and designer label shoes, or the right political slogan of any stripe, or even a drab and mournful appearance to show we are sufficiently deprived and aggrieved to gain a special status.  None of these things are meant to be pleasing to Christ first.  We often might find we are called instead to retire from that oh-so-necessary public face to find where He wants us to go and what He wants us to do.  It might be quiet prayer we need, not only for ourselves but for others around ourselves, for our relationships with people and with things.  We might need a reset of the way in which we look at and live in the world.  But any way you look at it, Christ's power -- although it might separate us from what we think we need and love -- is going to liberate us.  It is going to free us from delusions about what we must have that we don't really need and might not be good for us.  It is going to free us from false claims on our attention, and it's going to free us from deceptive rhetoric that does not really lead to freedom but to slavery.  If we want to know how to truly be free, then we must find a way to let go of everything else first, and focus on what really matters, and where our heart and treasure have to be in life.  We might just find it's what we give that makes us who we are, not what we get -- and sometimes that includes what we give up, including our false notions about ourselves and others.   But as Christ tells us, each one must bear one's own cross.  This is not a one-size-fits-all kind of movement, this work of discipleship.  It is a powerful pull into our own things we need to work on, and our own places we need to go in order to follow Him and find the refinement of the fire of grace, the energies of God.  And in this statement about one's own cross, we also find tremendous liberation.  For no two of us need be alike, and each journey is tailored for the unique creation that is the evidence of the Spirit's work.  There are no cookie-cutter saints, but each one is drawn in powerful lines, whether that be a woman of the fifth century who used her wealth to express her love of God, or a man who struggled in his poverty to remain true to Christ in the twentieth.  We each have a cross to bear and a foundation to build on.  But each of those, our cross and our foundation, are ultimately liberating.  Grace builds on what is potential within us, things which lie dormant but are called out through the work of experience and living our faith.  We're like statues carved out of marble or some other beautiful stone, in which the carver continually discovers what is truly there.  Are you ready for that struggle?  Can you count the cost?   St. Paul wrote to the Philippians to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."  Each one's picture will look different, but each journey of faith is one ultimately of the freedom of Christ's grounding truth and the surety of gold.  This is the discipleship we work out along the way.

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple

 

Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- least, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to met him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

"Salt is good; but if the sale has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

 

- Luke 14:25–35 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus also said to him who invited Him (a Pharisee who had invited Christ to dine in his home), "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."  Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is He who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'  But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'  So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"

 

Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple."  My study bible comments that this command to hate one's kindred and his own life also is not to be taken literally.  Instead, we are to hate the way that our relationships with others are able to hinder the fullness of our dedication to the Kingdom of God, which takes first priority even over family ties.  

 

 "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."  We note that, as in 9:23, when Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me," each person must take up his own cross.   My study bible says that the burden in this world is different for each person, and each has been chosen by God to bear certain struggles for one's own salvation and for the salvation of those around oneself.  Additionally, let us note from Christ's statement in 9:23, this direction to any disciple is meant to be a daily, ongoing commitment.  Our commitment to the Teacher is not a one-time event, nor a simple kind of affirmative believe used like a slogan.  It involves the continual practice of faith and obedience, even when it comes to the point of being shamed and persecuted by the world, as was Christ.  The fact that we read this instruction twice in Luke's Gospel makes it that much more emphatic, especially at this point in His ministry, when Christ is on His way toward Jerusalem.

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- least, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to met him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."  My study bible refers us to the words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, in which he refers to the grace of God given to him as a wise master builder.  The foundation of all -- regardless of what is built on top of that foundation -- must be Jesus Christ.  For whatever is built upon it, be it gold or silver, precious stones, or inexpensive materials -- eventually the Day of Christ will declare it, as revealed by the holy fire that will test each one's work to discover of what substance it truly is.  For each of us wants a true work of our life, which endures -- and even should we suffer loss, we are able to continue in our discipleship having been tested and understood better what is necessary.  Christ wants us to be prepared for this testing life of discipleship, willing to give our all, and make the necessary adjustments for our own eventual persistence and victory along the way.

"Salt is good; but if the sale has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Jesus uses this metaphor of salt for disciples in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13).  The words here are nearly identical.  But in the context of the long road of discipleship, and the sacrifices that may need to be calculated over a lifetime, they give us added depth here in Luke's Gospel.  Salt's preservative powers were even more essential, in some sense, in Christ's time than they are now.  It was also not as easily produced as it is now.   That power of preservation speaks to taking up one's cross and enduring in the long road of life in discipleship, and sticking to the way of Christ.  Salt also is necessary for life, and possesses a unique ability to give flavor:  to whatever it is added, flavor is enhanced.   This is a description of the essential quality of discipleship in a world that would sorely miss its presence in so many ways.  My study bible explains that because of all of these qualities, salt had religious and sacrificial significance to the Jews (Leviticus 2:13; see also Numbers 18:19, 2 Chronicles 13:5).  To eat salt with someone meant to be bound together in loyalty.  So, as the salt of the earth, Christians are therefore preservers of God's covenant, and also give true flavor to the world. 

How are we preservers of God's covenant?  How do we acts as a kind of "fixative" or "sealant" for God's covenant in the world, and specifically as disciples, our covenant with Christ?  Clearly the fullness of discipleship is in simple persistence, in being willing to put our faith first in line or priority, and to simply live it day after day.  This is what is discipleship.  It is what Christ tells us when He says to be prepared and to calculate the cost, whatever it takes or is going to take.  He asks us to estimate what it takes to build a life upon His foundation, this foundation of discipleship, and to be ready to pay the price, to do what it takes, to find our way to meet Him in the ultimate reconciling of our lives.  So if we are really going to be ready to pray the price, to calculate the cost, how do we set about doing that?  Do we make up our minds in advance, and decide what that is going to be?  Surely the price of faith does not consist of conscious calculation, but rather of the decision that we will endure, come what may and no matter what is asked of us.  We might not know in advance what it is we may be asked to give up to God.  Frequently we might find that life asks us to make choices regarding priorities, and especially of those things that pertain to our identity.  For example, we may find abuse in the family, and that one particular family member is being abuse.  If we have to make a choice between "making waves" in the family, and living the life of the Cross for Christ, we may need to relinquish the priority of the family stability over our loyalty to Christ.  This is how we carry our cross daily; it is in such choices that we find ourselves, especially if we have in mind that discipleship is the most important priority.  These are not questions of intellectual belief.  Rather they are tough questions which may be answered in prayer, in the heart and in the soul, and we will be faced with them if we carry our crosses successfully.  God will continually allow us to be challenged, so that we may truly come to terms with who we are, and reconcile with God before that Day in which we are called to our true and ultimate destiny.