(Luke 14: 25-33)
When you hear someone say: “Go big or go home” it’s usually in reference to making some important decision that entails some risk, a bold move so to speak. It implies that if you aren’t willing to go all in, to risk it all, then you might as well go home. When I worked undercover my partners and I worked out lifting weights three nights a week and, as encouragement, used to yell: “No pain, no gain” at each other as we struggled to lift more and more weight. It was painful but if you were going to gain more body mass and strength you had to endure the pain. And when we’d get into a tight spot we’d say: “If you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly” implying that you were going to have to be fierce and not easily intimidated. Everybody fears and respects a grizzly as opposed to a honey bear.
And going big or going home is exactly what Jesus is talking about in our scripture reading for this morning. Jesus’ ministry was really taking off and the Apostle Luke tells us that large crowds were now traveling along with Jesus and the disciples. So, not only were they attracting large crowds wherever they went they were bringing a large crowd with them. These were people who liked what Jesus was saying and willingly wanted to follow him. He seemed so sure of himself and, despite the best efforts of the religious leaders to trip him up, he spoke with such clarity and authority. If he wasn’t the Son of God, he surely was a prophet, one sent by God. Jesus senses this enthusiasm but he knows there are darker days ahead and he wants them to fully comprehend the risks of following him. He turns to the crowd and says: Whoever comes to me and doesn’t hate father and mother, spouse and children, and brothers and sisters—yes, even one’s own life—cannot be my disciple. This passage has always bothered me because hate is such a strong word, especially when it is used in the context of the people we love the most. So, I consulted one of my commentaries hoping for some clarity. My commentary said that the essence of discipleship is giving Christ first place, which you can’t argue with. It said that to “hate” one’s family and even one’s life is rhetorical, and it referred to desiring something less than something else. The commentary said that this instruction was especially appropriate in Jesus’s day, since a decision for Jesus could mean rejection by family and persecution even to the point of death. Those who feared family disapproval or persecution would not come to Jesus. Well, when you do consider the times, it does make sense. The Jewish religious leaders had a pretty tight grip on the people and in most instances, if not all, it was their way or no way, which is why they were drilling down on Jesus. He was a threat to their status quo. Can you imagine some disenfranchised young person who had been listening to Jesus telling his traditionally steeped Jewish mother and father he was thinking about following this guy who didn’t even have his own synagogue? Follow Jesus and you are disowned, you are dead to us! Jesus then underscores what he just said by stating: Whoever doesn’t carry their own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Pretty blunt, but those listening knew exactly what he was talking about. When the Romans led a criminal to his execution site, he was forced to carry the cross on which he would die, literally and figuratively. In essence, this is the crime you committed, the cause to which you have committed yourself to, and for that you will die. He made this statement to get the crowds to think through their enthusiasm for him and was encouraging those who were superficial in their belief to go deeper or to turn back.
To further illustrate his point Jesus throws out a couple of scenarios for his listeners to consider. He asks that if they decided to build a tower, wouldn’t they first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether or not they had the funds to cover the project? If not, once the foundation is laid, they’d realize that they didn’t have enough to complete the tower and all who see them will begin to mock them for starting something they couldn’t finish. Or he tells them, to consider a king who would go to war against another king without first sitting down to think about whether or not his smaller army could go up against a larger army coming against him. And, if he didn’t think he could win, he would send a representative to discuss peace terms while his enemy was still a long way off. The images of building a tower or preparing for war are calls to consider what it will take to follow Jesus. The mocking centers on the dishonor that results from the inability to complete the task, and following Christ is not something to be taken up on a trial basis. It calls for the ultimate commitment. Christ is not giving some emotional appeal to this crowd to follow him. He’s asking them for their careful consideration of the action they may choose to take to be his disciple and whether he or she will be faithful to the task, because there is no greater undertaking. In the same way, he says, none of you who are unwilling to give up all of your possessions can be my disciple.
Jesus is urging us to think about what it means to follow him and not to take it lightly. If you are not all in, you might as well stay home. The essence of discipleship is to place all things in God’s hands with the realization that following Jesus is not a trivial matter. Jesus’ call here is to follow him in the way of rejection and suffering. Sure there will be those moments when we experience exhilarating highs, but there will also be those times when, as disciples, we will be rejected by those in the world who do not honor Christ because he and his disciples are getting in their way. A disciple must be ready to face and accept such rejection.
Jesus is never interested in attracting great crowds; his concern is to attract followers who have considered the tremendous sacrifices that he is requesting and who are willing to make those sacrifices. He is seeking quality over quantity. Quality lasts, but quantity runs out. He is concerned that the person who squeezes commitment to him within a host of other priorities, as one of many good things, cannot truly commit to being his disciple.
Discipleship does have a cost and, as Jesus pointed out, the cost may include the loss of your own family. It requires us being willing to take up our crosses and following him with total commitment. There will be no gain if we aren’t willing to experience the pain. Jesus wants us to be sure and consider the cost before we begin, as the last thing he wants is for us to experience the shame of falling short because we weren’t all in. He’s asking us to consider whether or not we will abandon the Christian life after a little while because we did not count the cost of commitment to him. We have to be ready to go all in, to go big for Christ with the understanding that in order to gain that which God has promised will, at times, be painful, and that we must be as fierce as a grizzly when opposed by those who work to deny what Christ has to offer to others through what we do in his service.
Let us pray.
Gracious and loving Father, as we live our lives for Jesus, a life that is true, guide us by your spirit to strive to please him in all that we do. Keep us mindful that it was Jesus who bore his cross and died in our place. And it is such love and sacrifice that moves us to answer his call where we follow his lead and give him our all. Wherever we are, may we do each duty in his holy name and be willing to suffer affliction or loss as we deem each trial we face a part of our cross. O Jesus, Lord and Savior, we give ourselves to thee; for thou in thy atonement, didst give thyself for us. We answer no other master, our hearts shall be thy throne, our lives we give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for thee alone. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.