TWENTY THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C

[cappie]

Our gospel today begins with some of Jesus’ most controversial words in the New Testament. “ If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. .” That sounds pretty intimidating! Surely Jesus can’t mean that we can’t serve him without hating other people, right? That we need to hate even “life itself,” the life he gave us?

Most believers – and indeed, most scholars – do not take these words literally, but instead as a part of Jesus’ wider attempt in this passage to describe how discipleship works.  His very next sentence sheds some light on the matter. He says, “ Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

Notice that Jesus tells us it is a two-step process to become his disciple. Step one is carrying the cross. And step two is following him.  Jesus presents us with two illustrations of his meaning, and each illustration also has two steps.  

Illustration one involves building a tower. The hypothetical person takes step one, which is laying the foundation for the tower. But he doesn’t check his bank account before he breaks ground, and he runs out of money. The tower can’t be finished.

Illustration two involves a king going to war. The king takes step one, which is taking his ten thousand soldiers out on the field. But he didn’t find out how many troops the enemy king had and had to give up the battle and sue for peace. The war can’t be won.

Two steps. Step one is doing a hard thing: starting a massive building project or entering into a war. Step two, finishing the building or winning the war, cannot happen without an interim step: counting the cost. What is it going to take to complete this? To get the tower completed. To win the war? The missing step wrecks the whole endeavour, and we are left with a useless, half-finished building or a defeated army.

So, let’s go back   Jesus says, “Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple .” Step one, then, is taking up the cross. And step two is following Jesus. But he just taught us that there is a very important interim step between those two: counting the cost.

It’s very easy   to commit or re-commit to being a disciple of Jesus. We may eagerly take up our cross. But Jesus tells us here that we need to pause and count the cost of taking up the cross. What is it really going to demand of us to carry this cross?

 The next question is: Follow Jesus where? Into what?  We know that carrying the cross is our call to serve with courage and endurance

Discipleship is a two-step process, as Jesus describes it. First, the cross. Then, the following. But as he describes it to us with his illustrations, it will be costly, and we need to enter discipleship with our eyes wide open. So, at the end of the day, it’s a three-step process: cross, counting costs, and following. That fits. Most wonderful things in the Bible come in threes.

Take a moment and take stock of your life. Which of Jesus’ two illustrations fits you best? Are you needing to build something? Or are you needing to defeat something?

 In either case, your next step is to follow Jesus. Carry the cross from Good Friday into Holy Saturday and finally to Easter Day. You will know yourself to be Jesus’ faithful disciple risen, healed, alive.

There will be times in our lives when we face difficult consequences for living the way God wants us to, whether it’s because we’re standing up to the social and moral injustices of our time or because we prioritise God over other things, activities and people. This is why Jesus said, “Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

  It is costly. It is demanding. It will require every shred of courage and fortitude we can muster.  We are free now to come after Him, to serve Him—no longer slaves to the ties of our past lives. In Christ, all our yesterdays have passed. We live in what the Psalm today beautifully describes as the daybreak, ready to be filled with His kindness. For He has given us wisdom of heart and taught us to number our days aright.