The main theme of our Sunday liturgy is on human reason and its insufficiency to understand God’s ways: Wisdom 9: 13–18; Psalm 90; Philemon 1: 9–10, 12–17; Luke 14: 25–33. In general, these readings tell us how ill-equipped we are when it comes to knowing the things of God. Consequently, it becomes difficult to understand and grasp the demands of our faith. With precisions the Gospel tells us the cost of following Christ or of being his disciple. According to Jesus when it comes to the cost of discipleship, we have to make a difficult decision and then we commit ourselves. This is true as well in ordinary life; a real decision is measured by the fact that one has taken a new action. And in this case, if there is no action, one hasn’t truly decided. As difficult times require difficult decisions, so it is with discipleship because it involves a serious challenge. Here Jesus wanted the Jewish believers first, and the rest of us to understand that by following him they must be willing to face the rejection and scorn of family members who will not embrace Jesus as the Messiah. ‘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’. He meant that in order to follow him one must place one’s devotion and love for Him so far ahead of every other earthly tie that in comparison it is as though we hate our other relations. In addition, the Gospel here presents the stark reality we often face as Christians. We may find at times that God’s ways are so demanding that we have to make radical choices that can separate us from what is otherwise good and beautiful in this life: our relations with others, with relatives, with friends, with loved ones. At times in order to be authentic followers of Christ we may have to choose the hard and narrow road: ‘whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.’ (Lk 14: 27) Because of its cost, discipleship requires us both counting the cost and calculating the return. Jesus illustrates this point in two parables. The first is of a man who started to build a tower, but did not have enough money to finish it. As a result, friends started mocking him. Then Jesus draws the lesson: before he began to build, he should have counted the cost, and see if he was prepared to meet that financial obligation. The issue that Jesus is raising here is that of preparedness before beginning such a tough endeavour. As one calculates the return, one must as well count the cost. The second parable is of a king who goes to war against another king without calculating what it requires to win the war. Such a king will only have to surrender and ask what the price of peace would be! By this kind of warning Jesus is not telling us that the cost of discipleship is too great. Nor is he implying that we should not endeavour to become his disciples. All he is saying is that men and women who have counted the cost and are committed to the walk must be prepared not to stop in the middle of the stream and go back just because the going is getting tough. That is why Jesus uses such tough words to the crowd in order to drive the point home that discipleship is not for the faint of heart or the lukewarm. It is however interesting at this juncture to note that discipleship though having a personal cost for every single one of us; it remains a privilege that draws us into the intimate company of the Lord, rather than a lonely punishment for our sin on the narrow road. From our daily Christian experience, the closer we draw to the cross, the closer we draw to Christ himself. The burden of the cross too becomes lighter when taken as an imitation of Jesus as well as the way of the Christian style of life. This way we carry the cross like Simon of Cyrene, not alone and abandoned to our misery, but alongside Christ, and in a community, shoulder to shoulder carrying the cross of our salvation. With this understanding, what Jesus was telling the crowd becomes clearer to us. It would be a great leap ahead if we were equipped with the wisdom and prudence to see all things in a supernatural light, seeing how they affect our eternal destiny without losing touch of the temporal aspect. And Jesus was simply saying that every great leap forward in life comes after a clear decision of some kind. Ends
