Reflection:
This scene (Lk.14:25-33) develops the seriousness of Jesus’ teaching on wealth and elaborates on Jesus’ concern to gather disciples who can surrender this aspect of their lives to him, for Jesus addresses ‘large crowds’ and calls them to radically separate themselves from family and wealth. Jesus is training his Jewish disciples to leave behind their ancestral lands and go out into the whole world. So he uses the word ‘hate’ not in an emotional sense as if you had to emotionally hate your family, but in the sense of your loyalties and priority: If your family gets in the way of you following Jesus and carrying out his vision of life, you need to prioritize Jesus over them. Thus, this is very real and it will feel like dying. That’s part of what it means to carry your own cross and come after Jesus (14:26).
This is as true today as it was then. After my freshman year in college, I had to make a major decision. I had just gone away to college, and my younger sister had just started high school. I had been praying that she would come to know Jesus. So one day she told me on the phone that she had been going to a Christian club that met every day at lunch. It was put on by a history teacher. On Mondays, this teacher would have a worship time. On Tuesdays, there would be a Bible study. On Wednesdays, he would invite a student from a nearby Bible college to come and teach a passage of the Scriptures. On Thursdays, there would be a time for discussion. And on Fridays, there’d be a movie or games or something. My sister came to know about Jesus and eventually accepted Christ that year because this teacher was so psyched about Christ and spreading God’s kingdom, even at a public school! I went to meet this man, and to me, he was funny looking. He had gray hair, he wore a red plaid shirt and bright red tie. But joy was written all over his face, and I said to myself, ‘I can see myself doing this. This is important work.’ I said to him, ‘Thank you.’ He said, ‘God bless you.’ I took all of my sophomore year to think about the kingdom of God. The next summer, I told my parents that I MIGHT want to be a high school teacher, and I wanted to take a step in that direction to see if it fit me. They were furious. They demanded, ‘Why are we sending you to Stanford, then?!’ Shocked, I said, ‘I don’t know.’ The summer of 1992 was filled with tension. My parents threatened to yank me out of school. I wanted to hold on to Stanford. The question for me at that point was, ‘What would I seek first? Being completely available to follow Christ? Or following my own agenda and having a nice backup plan called a Stanford degree?’ By the end of that summer, in my heart, I let go of Stanford, I let go of a cushy lifestyle, I let go of however making big money made me an ‘eligible bachelor.’ As best I knew how, I asked Jesus Christ to be the only King for me. I said to my parents, ‘I’m not saying that I KNOW I want to teach high school. I’m just saying that I’d like the freedom to explore it. But if sending me to Stanford makes you feel like you have control over my choices, I’ll leave Stanford. I’ll put myself through school somewhere else. It may take longer, but it’ll be okay.’ I meant it. Later, they said they would keep sending me to Stanford, and that I could choose. But the significant part of that episode is that Jesus used it to help me let go of something deep in my heart.
Wealth, then as now, comes most often through your family. And Jesus calls us to prioritize him and his mission first. If we must count the cost of that, then so we must. Just as a builder calculates how much it will cost to build a tower (14:27 - 30), and just as a king calculates the cost of a battle beforehand (14:31 - 32), so we must calculate what it would cost us to prioritize Jesus.
The bottom line is: ‘So then, none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions’ (14:33). That mirrors the three excuses given by the invitees to the party in the parable just before this (14:15 - 24). Two were about material wealth, and the third was about family. That’s what’s still required. Jesus asks for your whole life and all your resources. This is a tough call to discipleship, but a logical one in the context of Jesus teaching his disciples to be hosts who display the inclusive, generous and sacrificial ethic of their master’s kingdom banquet. Throwing parties for people who cannot pay one back will surely drain resources. Also, inviting people who are social outcasts will surely be costly to one’s own social reputation, just as it was for Jesus, who was regularly sneered at by people who disdained his eating with ‘sinners’ (Lk.5:30; 7:34; 7:39; 15:2; 19:7). Jesus appears to intend table fellowship to be one way to live out the ‘love your enemy, give without expecting return’ teaching of the Sermon on the Plain in Lk.6:20-49. Jesus’ call to forsake both family and wealth is suggested in 5:1-11 and made explicit in 9:51-62, 12:13-34, 14:15-24, and 18:15-19:10.
