Luke 14: 25- 33
(None of you can be my disciples if you do not give up all your possessions …)
In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
It seems like an impossible task, somewhat hyperbolic, almost as if Jesus was looking out at the crowd thinking ‘What can I say that’s really going to wake this lot up?, ‘How can I make a real impact, make them sit up and take notice!”…
No matter how many times you have read it, or listened to it, it still has the power to make us uncomfortable. It can make us wonder whether – after all – we are doing our utmost to follow Jesus…
Partly its the challenging nature of Jesus’s words ‘no one can’, and ‘whoever does not’… this language doesn’t allow for comfortable reinterpretation … it is stark and direct…
What can we do with this reading? Well, perhaps we can begin by acknowledging that discipleship is tough – it’s not an easy option. Discipleship is a ‘definite decision’ – and it can feel like an enormous challenge to follow Jesus’s words today.
It seems like an impossible task – that every act, every decision of ours is to be subordinate to following Jesus… So it’s important to stop for a moment – to orient ourselves on the person of Jesus Christ and remember that he was both fully human and fully divine. Jesus understands and experienced human love. Jesus understands hunger and thirst, fear and pain. He was tempted as we are – he understands the temptation of allowing our bodily comforts and our relationships to gain primacy in our lives… Jesus is speaking from a position of understanding, he knows these temptations and how strong our human desires can be…
So, in order to engage fully with Jesus’s words today lets’s reflect on these sayings from a positive rather than a negative point of view – not ‘whoever does not hate’, ‘whoever does not carry the cross’, or ‘none of you can become my disciple’, but instead thinking about how best we can live a life of discipleship that is orientated on Jesus and his desire for us.
Approaching from a positive point of view we could think of self denial, cross-bearing, meditation on eternal life and the proper use of the gifts of God in daily life as ways to engage with Jesus’s words today.
Firstly self denial – in this gospel reading Jesus is giving us the opportunity to be free from selfishness and self-obsession. In this world where the word ‘I’ and the word ‘me’ seem to be the most important words, we as disciples can actively choose ‘our’ and ‘we’ as our pronouns of choice. If we are oriented on other people rather than on our own needs then this denial of the primacy of self will help us to do the work of God in our lives…
Next, cross-bearing – it is the dimension of self denial that allows us to face suffering. To bear our cross means to be oriented on God’s will even when we are in pain or experiencing loss. Anyone who has spent time with someone who is grieving or who is in great pain may have experienced the deep nature of God’s comfort which carries us them dark times. This is cross bearing, this is patiently abiding – knowing that in it all we are loved by God.
And this allows us to meditate on eternal life – to ponder the mystery of the great promise held in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We are made to be with God and our true home is in heaven with him. This should be a source of great joy for us – it should help us to focus on the eternal instead of this physical life – it should give us a more critical perspective on possessions and material things.
Focusing on eternal life can help us to gain perspective on the proper use of the gifts of God in daily life. It is an unfashionable idea but perhaps we could think about living a simpler life, with fewer indulgences, waiting patiently or going without things that we might like to have. God has entrusted us with this earth and all its good things, focusing on his gifts should make us think twice – do I need this? or that? And what impact does my consumption have on others…
So when Jesus challenges us today, instead offering a bit uncomfortable, perhaps we should instead ask him to give us the strength to be free from self obsession, to commit to love, to face our trials and sufferings honestly, to be faithful stewards of creation. But perhaps more than all of this, we should ask that he will help and guide us to do that together. For I know that I – for one – cannot do this alone. And I know that when we support each other we are all better disciples …
In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen