Wednesday in the 31st Week of Ordinary Time, November 3, 2021

Luke 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

The Lord Jesus, as he traveled for the last time to Jerusalem, had come to the height of his popularity with the Jewish people.  They hailed him as the longed-for Messiah, wondered at his miracles, and hung on his words.  As he approached the Holy City, with the Passover coming on, they felt that he would overthrow the corrupt Temple officials, declare the kingdom of David restored, and then begin the revolt against the Romans.  They wanted to join in.  Yet, as he proceeded, “he turned and addressed them”.  He wanted to warn them of what it really mean to follow him.  

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”  The Greek word translated here as “hating” means just that.  An alternative meaning is even stronger, “detesting”.  Although this expression is explained as hyperbole, the Lord’s meaning is clear: the love of these others must not come before the love of Jesus Christ.  The Lord claims much more than a political leader or a religious reformer.  He claims first place in the hearts of those who wish to follow him.  Everyone else in the follower’s life comes as a distant second.  The Lord says, unless the follower does this, “he cannot be my disciple”.  The verb is better translated as “is not able”, as in, He is not able to be my disciple.  That is, Jesus does not himself establish this condition for discipleship, but declares that unless the follower upends his life so that he is its primary object, the follower will not have the ability to be his disciple.  It will be beyond him.  Jesus clearly makes a demand that only God could make.  And those who would be with the Lord entirely forego marriage and careers.  

“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”  If the crowd was shocked by the Lord’s first declaration, we can only imagine their feelings upon hearing this second one.  To “carry a cross” meant the greatest public shame and the most severe torture.  The Lord was demanding that those who would follow him must embrace this shame and agony.  It is as though the Lord were promising to lead his disciples to the horrific fate of crucifixion priests instead of the power and glory they desired.  These words remain as hard to understand today as they did two thousand years ago because they lead us to unacceptable conclusions.  They mean that we must break our own will in order to conform ourselves entirely to the will of Almighty God.

He makes a third demand: “Everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”  The Greek verb translated here as “renounced” also means “to withdraw” and “to take leave of”.  This can be done literally or through the conversion of one’s attitude towards one’s possessions: in some way they are for the service of Christ.  

These three demands liberate us from obstacles that would hinder our service to Jesus: relationships, our willfulness, and our property.  The virtues that free us from these are chastity, obedience, and poverty — the evangelical counsels.  The Lord loves them so that we can live them, and we live them so that we might have life with him.