After Thoughts: Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 14:25-33

This reading is a tough one to get my head around.  Jesus sounds mean, off-putting, threatening – not Jesus-like at all.  What’s all this hating and cross-carrying and giving up my stuff?  I’ve been wrestling and researching for a few days now.  These two things jumped out at me:
 

Now large crowds were traveling with him.
 

Cannot be my disciple.

Let’s start with the ‘large crowds.’  Jesus was doing pretty cool stuff, healing people and all that, and he was an intriguing storyteller.  Who wouldn’t want to follow him?  But he knew where his journey was leading.  And he knew most – all? – of those following him wouldn’t be able to make the cut.  What if he looked over his shoulder, saw all of those fools clamoring after him, and just had to be honest with them, give them the brutal facts.  “This is one tough road.  You best be prepared for it.  Here’s what it will take.”

Now to the second phrase. “Cannot be my disciple.” I’m not a language expert, or expert of any kind for that matter, so I don’t know what the original context means, but ‘disciple’ seems like a pretty big role, a daunting responsibility. I did read in a couple of resources that the word is never used in the OT and not even in the NT outside of the Gospels and Acts. A disciple is a student, lives closely by the teacher, learns his life and philosophy. So maybe disciples were intended and called for that earthly timeframe of Jesus only. Maybe this message is just for that specific time – the earthly time of Jesus. Maybe He was saying - there’s just a little time left now before this whole thing comes down and I need only people who can finish the job. Here are the requirements. Qualified candidates only, please.

Jesus already knew and knows that none of us are qualified. That doesn’t matter. God is a Wise King. God knows the forces of Satan. Jesus understands the cost of victory over evil and death. Father and Son have considered the war they are about to wage on the cross and the Three-in-One know that victory is certain. Our salvation is secured by the work of Christ. Alone. Period.

So if any of us read that and think, sure, I can be a disciple, or call ourselves, disciples – hold the phone. Think about it. Carry our crosses? Okay, a few seem to be able to do that. Dietrich Bonhoeffer pops to mind immediately. He’s one of the well-known, and there are probably many lesser known folks out there, bearing their crosses quietly, humbly. But I know I prefer the healings and water-into-wine miracles and the part that comes after the crucifixion. Who doesn’t? Facebook is full of posts when good news is received praising God. But when’s the last time someone posted: “The cancer is back. Thanks be to God.”

Not that I’m suggesting we get all caught up being martyrs, loving the bad stuff, even seeking it out.

In seminary, we learned about differences in degree versus differences in kind. Example: I am generous, but Mother Theresa was really generous. That’s a difference in degrees, in this case of the virtue of human generosity. Our talk about God is limited to this same language, but when we think of God as generous, or good, or wise – we must remember that we are talking about a different kind, not a different degree. God’s goodness is not our goodness to the nth degree. God’s goodness is something we cannot conceive with our human minds. We can experience it in our relationship with God, but it is beyond words, without definition, and exceeds calculation.

Back to the beginning to those two phrases. Now large crowds were traveling with him. By the dozens and one by one, that large crowd fell back until there is only one man, the Son of Man, taking a solitary journey to the cross. We all fell away. Cannot be my disciple. No, I cannot. Despite my (sometimes) best efforts, I fail miserably at that role. Which makes the next stories Jesus tells even more amazing. Lost sheep, lost coin, lost sons. He seeks and searches and saves all of them. Thanks to the journey Jesus took, the cross He did carry, even when I fail to follow, He comes for me. And then calls me not to be a disciple, but to be his sister, a child of God. That is truly awesome. And Love, Forgiveness, and Mercy of a kind that passes human understanding.