The Cost of Discipleship

The Cost of Discipleship

Luke 14:25-33

            There’s a wonderful line from the musical Nunsense.  One of the nuns is talking about the vow of poverty.  Her companion says, “We can have anything we want; we just can’t own it.”

            I am not denigrating nuns specifically, or Catholics in general.  I know the vast majority of those who have committed themselves to God’s service are dedicated servants, living out both the letter and the spirit of their vows.  I admire them.  I am also aware that every profession, religious or otherwise, has a few practitioners who, by cutting corners, and serving themselves first, give the rest a bad name.  In the same way some choose the path of discipleship not because of love for Christ, but for material reasons.

            The cost of discipleship can be high.  Jesus’ first century followers found this to be true, often paying with their lives for keeping their vow to follow their Master.  Later generations of Christians often suffered torture and death for their faithfulness.  You can’t say they weren’t warned.  Jesus made very clear what discipleship could cost. 

            He made it clear in words, telling his disciples that following him might cost them their families.  I could argue that Jesus might not have meant hate the way we use the word.  I could argue that he might have been using hyperbole, as he did elsewhere in the gospels.  Whether he really meant that we must hate our families, or was only describing the cost of discipleship in the most powerful terms is less important than the concept.  Following Jesus means Jesus comes first, and everything else is of lesser value.

            In the first century, following Jesus often meant giving up one’s family.  Jesus was a divisive factor in relationships.  Those who did not choose the path of discipleship often turned their backs on those who chose to follow Christ—even their family members.  They could not understand how someone could become a disciple of an itinerant preacher who had been executed by the legitimate government.  Furthermore, what he taught was so foreign to the current belief and cultural systems that nonbelievers couldn’t accept it.

            Jesus also made the cost of discipleship clear—unmistakably clear—by his willingness to die for his beliefs.  He demonstrated the cost by example.  Those who chose the path of discipleship knew it could lead to death, and still they chose to take up their cross.

            What is the cost of discipleship today?  Do we have to turn our backs on our families?  Must we deny ourselves the pleasures of human existence?  Must we die for our beliefs?

            All are possibilities.  There are still families that will not accept a member’s decision to become Christ’s disciple.  We don’t see it often in our country, but in other places becoming a Christian is an alienating decision, sometimes cutting a person off not only from his family, but from the entire culture. 

It is possible that following the call of Christ may mean an existence devoid of the luxuries of life.  There are monasteries and convents where followers of Christ gather to live a life of simple devotion to prayer and study. 

            We are fortunate that few people in our country die for their Christian beliefs.  There are more legends about this than confirmed accounts.  Still, dying for one’s beliefs—anywhere, anytime—is always a possibility.

            But familial alienation or giving up one’s culture or one’s life for Jesus Christ is not the point Jesus was making.  Jesus wanted his followers to understand they had to be committed to the possibility of the cost, and willing to accept that possibility out of love, not out of obligation or entitlement.  The gift we make is saying, “Here I am; send me,” wherever that might lead.