Counting the Cost of Following Jesus—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 13C (Luke 14:25-33)

Luke 14:25-33 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

²⁵ Now large crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them, ²⁶ “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³ So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

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                It is commonplace in certain sectors of society to hear complaints that Christians (more specifically, conservative Christians) are being persecuted. When we dive deeper into these complaints, we will discover that the issue isn’t persecution but power. That is, some Christians believe that the United States is a “Christian nation,” and therefore Christians (only) should have power over the government and the larger culture. As the nation becomes more diverse, they believe that this supposed legacy of the founders is being lost. What is known as Christian nationalism has different forms, some being more extreme than others, but it has permeated our society for a very long time. Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood wrote an especially poignant book reminding Mainline Protestants (of which I count myself) that we have a long history of embracing forms of Christian nationalism. The primary evidence is the presence of the American flag in the sanctuaries of many of our churches, including all the churches I served as pastor [see Kaylor & Underwood, Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism (Chalice Press, 2024)]. Christians have been dealing with the enticement of church/state entanglements ever since Constantine embraced Christianity in the Fourth Century.

                When reading the Gospels, we discover that Jesus was something of a counter-cultural figure. He challenged both the political and the religious leaders. Like the prophets of old, he spoke against oppressive agents, but he did so, like the prophets, from the perspective of one deeply imbued with a spiritual foundation. One of the reasons that I have so appreciated Richard Beck’s book Reviving Old Scratch is that in that book, he called out progressive Christians who pursue social justice ministry but neglect the spiritual dimensions of the agents of oppression. There are spiritual powers and principalities at work that we often overlook as we go about our business, and this is to our detriment.

                Our Gospel reading is again found in Luke 14. The prior reading had to do with humility and hospitality (Luke 14:1, 7-14). In that reading, Jesus attends a sabbath dinner. As he participates in this dinner hosted by a Pharisee, he watches as the guests jockey for the best seat in the house. He offers sage advice here about how to behave in such a situation. That story leads to another parable, with this one speaking of a banquet at which the original invitees decide not to attend, such that the host puts out an invite to everyone who might come. The original invitees are then shut out (Luke 14:15-24). With that dinner apparently over, Jesus is once again on his way to Jerusalem, where he will meet his destiny.   

                According to Luke, a large group of people was traveling with Jesus. Why they were doing this is not revealed, but there appears to be a large group of people who want to see what Jesus is going to do going forward. Jesus hasn’t called them to follow him, but they seem rather enthusiastic. The question is, do they understand what following him involves? They seem not to understand that Jesus is heading to Jerusalem not to take over the government of Israel but to die on a cross.  Whatever their reason for following him, Jesus decides to confront them, revealing the terms of discipleship. In doing so, he asks them to count the cost of following him.

The terms of discipleship seem rather harsh. In fact, Jesus sounds downright anti-family values. Consider what he says here to his would-be followers: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” Eugene Peterson’s The Message does soften this a bit:  “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Then comes the kicker: “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27). Jesus is a charismatic figure who says interesting things and heals people. As a result, people are eager to hang out with him. But are they willing to incur the true cost of doing this?

Jesus once again turns to a parable to get his point across. He asks a couple of questions that deal with counting the cost of doing something, whether building a tour or going to war. In the first scenario, he asks the crowd to put themselves in the place of a person contemplating building a tower. If you’re going to do such a thing, don’t you first sit down and figure out how much it is going to cost? After all, don’t you want to know if you have enough funds to finish the job? After all, Jesus tells the crowd, if you lay the foundation and then discover you can’t afford to complete the project, you will look pretty silly. People will then ridicule such a person, pointing out that the person set out to build the tower but couldn’t complete it. Then Jesus offers a second scenario in which a king is getting ready to go to war. Wouldn’t that king first sit down to figure out if he is in a position to win? After all, if he has ten thousand soldiers and the opponent has 20,000, does he have a plan to win? If not, wouldn’t the king send a delegation to the opposing king to seek terms of peace? Now, truth be told, history is littered with stories of rulers who decided to go to war and failed miserably because they didn’t count the cost. But wisdom suggests counting the cost.

Having laid out these two scenarios in which the audience is asked to count the cost of discipleship, Jesus offers the punchline, declaring: “So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions” (Luke 14:33). With that declaration, we are faced with a question. Have we counted the cost of discipleship? Is being a Christian like being a member of the Rotary or Kiwanis, or maybe a Masonic Lodge? There is nothing wrong with such an entity, but is following Jesus just another component of one’s social life? As I ponder this question, I realize that following Jesus in the United States doesn’t cost much. But that’s not true everywhere. Consider the situation facing Christians living in places like Israel/Palestine, where they face oppressive situations.

When I read a passage like this one, I will look to a person such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer for guidance. Now, unfortunately, Bonhoeffer’s legacy is in dispute as different groups offer differing interpretations of his life and works. Nevertheless, Bonhoeffer, who faced death, in part because of his faith and in part in service to the greater good of his nation, which had been taken over by a demonic movement led by Adolph Hitler. In his book on Discipleship, Bonhoeffer called our attention to the problem of cheap grace. Bonhoeffer, being a good Lutheran, understood the importance of the cross to his theology. He wrote a word that may be difficult to hear and may not apply to everyone (that is, those who are already suffering the weight of the cross). It did apply to his fellow German Christians living under Hitler’s rule, Christians who tolerated Hitler’s oppressive rule. So, he wrote: “Just as Christ is only Christ as one who suffers and is rejected, so a disciple is a disciple only in suffering and being rejected, thereby participating in crucifixion. Discipleship as allegiance to the person of Jesus Christ places the follower under the law of Christ, that is, under the cross” [Discipleship, DBW, vol. 4, p. 85]. He clarifies what this means a few paragraphs later, where he writes: “The cross is neither misfortune nor harsh fate. Instead, it is that suffering which comes from our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone. The cross is not random suffering, but necessary suffering. . . . Strictly speaking, it is being rejected for the sake of Jesus Christ, not for the sake of any other attitude or confession. A Christianity that no longer took discipleship seriously remade the gospel into only the solace of cheap grace” [Discipleship, p. 86]. So, the question Jesus poses to us, as we navigate our current context, one that is dominated by an authoritarian leader that demands total loyalty, concerns our allegiance.

When it comes to matters of allegiance, we all face the challenge of determining what is ultimate. Jesus suggests here that family is not ultimate. He uses a word translated in most English translations as “hate” to describe the nature of our familial relationships. We might want to use the words “compared to” here, but that’s not in the text. Jesus is not emphasizing the importance of family. I take note of that word as one who values my family. I’ve been married for over forty years and have an adult son. I don’t hate them, but I have to recognize that Jesus is not a preacher of family values. As far as giving up my possessions, I’ve not gotten there either. Whether Jesus requires that of us or not, we need to take stock of how discipleship relates to our possessions. At the very least, we should hold them lightly. Finally, there is the nation. Jesus doesn’t speak directly of our national allegiances, but from what we read in the Gospel, he downplayed those as well. His focus was on the coming kingdom of God, a kingdom that transcends nations, including our own. As I have suggested in my book Ultimate Allegiance: The Subversive Nature of the Lord’s Prayer, when we recite that prayer, we are pledging our allegiance to God and to God’s realm. To do otherwise is to embrace cheap grace.