DISCIPLESHIP: COUNT THE COST AND COMMIT
Wisdom 9:13-18b; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33
Some time ago, a priest invited me to preach a retreat for his school boys. Since he is a good friend, I said yes. I did not consider my community and province responsibilities; I did not consider my health or that I’d have to manage a hundred boys. And I struggled. Before, during, and after! And I wished—quite often—that I had not said “yes”!
Have you ever felt that way? We accept invitations, take up tasks and responsibilities without realizing their demands, and then we either fail or struggle to honour our commitments.
Over the past few Sundays, the gospels have been about aspects of discipleship and Jesus’ invitation to follow him. Today he tells us that we need to know the cost of discipleship and consider whether we have the resources to meet the cost before we commit ourselves.
He uses two parables to stress the point: before beginning construction, a builder would work out the cost of his defence tower; before battle, a king would consider whether his outnumbered army would be able to face the enemy. The advice is clear: sit down, look at the demands, and figure out whether you can meet them.
There are two demands: total and unconditional loyalty (expressed in strange terms: “hating father-mother, wife-children, brothers-sisters”) and carrying one’s cross.
A clarification! In Aramaic, “hate” is not a feeling word; it is a priority word: to say that I love one and hate another means that I choose to carry out my commitment to one in preference to the other when the commitments are in conflict. No commitment, however important, can come before our commitment to God.
The second reading expresses the cost of discipleship for Philemon!
Were Philemon not a Christian, he could have killed Onesimus or punished him so severely that he would never again consider running away. But as a Christian dealing with a Christian, he had to accept the runaway slave and accept him as a brother!
What is the cost of discipleship for me? Do I have to give up my hatreds and resentments against those who injured me? My attachments to people and things? What are the commitments and relationships that I must hate so that I can commit myself to Jesus?
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