Luke 14:25-33
Jesus knew how to gather a crowd.
- The Gospel of Luke portrays him as a magnetic presence.
- Large groups of people were drawn to his teaching.
- No doubt some scratched their heads when they heard one of his parables…and then laughed out loud when they got the point.
- People with physical and emotional needs leaned forward to experience his healing touch.
- When their lives were changed…they told others about it.
- The word spread quickly.
- He drew people from every station and strata of life.
No wonder…then…that Luke tells us that crowds traveled with Jesus.
- They stuck to him…where he went…they went.
- The mass of people was enormous.
Perhaps some clung to him because of the parables Jesus told…like the one we read last week.
- He had been invited for dinner.
- At the table…the Lord declared that next time the host should expand the guest list.
- A meal should never be limited to those who might return the invitation.
- Therefore…invite those who could never return the favor.
- The host should invite everyone without bounds.
The crowds had been sticking to Jesus like Velcro.
- All were welcome to follow him.
- All were free to go wherever Jesus went.
- But that did not mean everybody who was attracted to Jesus would finish the journey with him.
- So…in today’s gospel reading Jesus says some things that would likely thin the crowd. The Lord be with you.
The first thing he said is drastic.
- Want to follow me? Hate your parents…your spouse and children…your extended relations…even your own life.
- That’s harsh. It is one of the fiercest sayings he ever uttered.
If we didn’t know better…we would think this was a reply to fuel family tension.
- A teenager may explode when given a clear curfew.
- A future bride may despise her father if he rejects her choice of a husband.
- Pain begets pain…words screamed become scars.
- Loved ones are despised.
- Should not the followers of Jesus be concerned about peace in their own families?
Scholars tell us this is a particular form of speech commonly used in Semitic cultures.
It is either-or language…just like when Jesus said we cannot worship God and wealth.
- No slave can serve two masters…for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other.
- Here…the distinction was between God or family.
- We cannot give both ultimate honor.
- For followers of Jesus…to hate their families meant giving the family second place in their affections.
- God’s Kingdom comes first.
If we surveyed a large auditorium of Christians today…some would be struggling with Kingdom-family choices.
- Some may hear Christ calling them to stand up for a cause that their own brothers and sisters resist.
- Others may feel a tug to make a life change that family members will not understand.
- When a person senses God’s call to pursue a new direction or a deeper expression of faith…
- Those most resistant to that call may be sitting around the same dinner table.
- As the preacher Fred Craddock often quipped:
- The Holy Spirit rarely calls someone in a voice loud enough for the whole family to hear.
The point is this: The call of Christ comes before everything else.
- Whether we choose to follow him…or he chooses us…discipleship is a matter of increasing clarity.
- When we follow Jesus first…his invitation precedes our own willful wishes.
- His values come before our own. Everybody and everything else must line up after him.
Jesus reminded his hearers that this clarity comes with a cost.
- At various points…the discipleship road is steep.
- They might be blessed for a season to find the path level…even refreshing.
- Yet discipleship always demands something from them…and from us.
- By putting Christ first…we choose to put other matters aside.
These days…a few excited converts may make a show of this…declaring how much they have sacrificed for their faith and obedience.
- The fervent student deletes the hardcore rock-and-roll from his Apple Music play list.
- Announcing how sanctified he has become.
- The modest office worker convinces herself that a lack of social life is a spiritual discipline.
- There may be little transformation in these souls.
- At most they might experience a slight recalibration of the spirit.
Far more stirring are the quiet sacrifices that some make in leading lives of faithfulness.
- There is the divorced engineer who passes up lucrative opportunities for relocation because she values the stability she provides for her children by staying in their small town.
- Or there is a dentist who takes two weeks of unpaid personal time to fix smiles in an underserved city.
- A retired teacher tells her pastor that she will not be in worship most
- Sundays because the nearby soup kitchen cannot find anybody else to prepare meals on that morning.
- That’s where God wants me to be…she says…adding…I meet Jesus in the breadline every week.
This is where discipleship hits the road:
- In acts of service that benefit other people.
- Each act requires a calculation of energy and effort.
- Helping others in the name of Christ is never a quick fix.
- It takes discipline and perseverance.
- Not only do we discern the work…we see it through.
- If we volunteer to work with teenagers…they count on us to keep showing up.
- If we dedicate our time each week to sit with a lonely friend…it does no good to allow interruptions in that schedule…there is a cost.
When clarity is gained and the cost calculated…we discover one of the secrets of the Christian life.
- There is a surprising liberation that comes as we follow Christ by offering our lives to others.
- We can travel lightly…not needing luxuries.
- God sets us free from our more selfish desires.
Joy…that is the secret.
- Not happiness…nor freedom from struggle…but the sense that our lives have aligned with the purposes of God.
- In giving ourselves away for the sake of God’s kingdom…we gain a clearer sense of who we are.
- We see what God is doing and how we can be a part of it.
- This is the true significance of being Jesus’ disciple.
- In the best and deepest sense…we lose ourselves and gain the Savior.
The crowds will not always understand the call of discipleship…nor will they follow through to the end.
- Jesus knew this…and he invites all to live the life of God’s dominion…
- Yet the crowd often thins out as its members perceive what that life requires.
But we know what it will take…for his voice is uniquely calling us.
- With increasing clarity…a counting of the cost and a deepening commitment…
- Each of us is invited to respond to Jesus’ self-giving love by offering ourselves to him and his purposes.
- We come to Christ with nothing in our hands.
- Why? Because it is easier to embrace him when we are no longer clinging to anything else.