The Cost of Following Jesus

 

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’” (Luke 14:25-30 ESV).

 

One of the chores I take care of at our home is mowing. It is a time-consuming activity since we have a very large yard. I do have the luxury of using a small tractor that mows a much larger swath than a walk behind mower. It still takes about two hours to mow. Kyle does the harder tasks of edging, weed eating, and blowing off the walks and driveway. That takes about two hours as well. If you’ve been following our weather this summer you know it can get very warm in August, so we can spend quite a bit of energy doing the yard. The exercise is good, but when I am done, I can tell that I have used up strength and energy. It costs me something to do the work, even though I enjoy doing it.

 

In our reading for today, Jesus talks about the cost of following him. Some of his words sound harsh, and sometimes Jesus spoke this way to make clear that following him is not easy. Instead, it can be very hard work. For example, following Jesus can mean that our relationships with family and friends become strained because they do not believe in him. But Jesus is not saying we must literally “hate” them, because we also know that he calls us to love everyone, even our enemies (cf. Matthew 5:44). In another passage Jesus states the same thing in a way that is easier to understand: “Anyone who loves their father or mother… [or] son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (cf. Matthew 10:37). In other words, to follow Jesus, we need to put him first in our lives. We need to be willing to put aside everything else we have to be his disciples.

 

Following Jesus is often difficult; but rest assured, nothing can be more satisfying and profitable than doing so. Even the difficult experiences will turn to joy in His direction.