Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Psalm 1
Philemon 1-20
Luke 14:25-33

Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If Luke were an ad writer for the classified section of the Atlanta paper, the conditions that Jesus laid down for discipleship would look like this:

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY! We are looking for VERY Special People.

Luke sure knows how to make the Christian life sound difficult. I can’t imagine that such an advertisement for discipleship would find many takers, can you? If Luke weren’t paying by the line, his ad might also describe some other important requirements for discipleship, like repentance, humility, generosity, righteousness, and prayer.

Nowadays, some preachers in some churches and on TV lay out the gospel as if they were selling soap, or snake oil, or used cars. They try to make it sound easy to follow Jesus like no commitment is required. They try to make discipleship palatable to people like you and me – to help us feel good while we wallow in complacency, avoid as much danger as possible, and view our wealth and possessions as marks of our success as human beings. Luke said just the opposite – that Jesus’ call to discipleship was far different. Jesus wasn’t looking for a crowd of groupies, or for folks who join everything that interests or excites them.

Jesus required total commitment of his followers – a willingness to detach from relationships, even important ones; intentional sacrifice and exposure to risk, ridicule, and persecution; giving up the material things that we idolize because they make us think we’ve got it made. Jesus didn’t tell us to "hate" our families in the sense of violence or anger kind of hatred. The Greek word miseuo doesn’t mean that kind of hate. It means "prefer," or "choose," or "renounce." And "bearing our cross" has been overused, even corrupted. It doesn’t mean the bad things that happen to us, like illness or a mean mother-in-law. It means being willing to follow Jesus in the way we live our lives, even to death. And regarding selling everything we own, we are required to live simple lives – it really is not true that "he who dies with the most toys wins."

Luke is still good scripture, even if he’s tough. Last week, I had a conversation with a Methodist minister from the Congo who has a wife and five children back home, who is finishing his PhD. in church development and heading for Cameroon to plant the church there. Speaking with a French accent, he told me that he had not seen his family in several years and did not know when he would see them again. He had, if you will, answered that "Want Ad" written by Luke. So had the retired Anglican priest from Nigeria who endured a summer of ridicule because of his age and difficulty with the English language. He wanted to learn to be a hospital chaplain so that he could take that skill back to Africa.

Suppose that all of us were to answer that "Want Ad?" Could we make a commitment to be Jesus’s disciples, right here and now? Could we know in advance whether we would be able to fulfill our commitment? Jesus wasn’t asking for a guarantee – if he had, nobody would ever have become a disciple. Jesus simply reminded us all to consider what discipleship will cost us in advance of making the commitment to follow him into a new way of life. But just say that we did make that leap of faith and decide to become disciples of our Lord – the ones who are sent out to proclaim the Gospel to the world, to heal the sick, to minister to the poor? The commitment of each one of us might bear a different cost. Some of us might have to change jobs, or go back to school; others might have to change personal relationships. Some of us might have to commit our financial resources to live out our commitment. Luke is clear that all who seek to take advantage of such a unique opportunity for new life must be ready for a total change in priorities.

Like the ad says, "Part-time disciples need not apply."

Hmmm. . . let’s look at that classified ad again. Discipleship looks like a tough, more than full-time job, but there must be some rewards, too. Let’s put them into Luke’s ad, too, like this:

. . .JOB BENEFITS: •Mercy • Justice • Peace •Eternal Life.

The ad says it is looking for very special people. . . . That’s you.

Anne Meroney, Seminarian - St. John’s Episcopal Church, College Park, Georgia