TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR "C"

Cycle “C”: Luke 14, 25 – 33

Wherever Jesus went, great crowds accompanied him. This usually made him suspicious. They were the people who wanted to see the miracle-worker; maybe see a miracle, if they were lucky. They had even heard that one time he couldn’t do any miracles. For any member of the crowd, being in the crowd was a great experience. You could listen to him arguing with the scribes and those awful Pharisees. They thought they were brilliant but Jesus could always leave them looking like fools. Even if he did no miracle, there could be great sport when someone took him on in an argument.

But Jesus knew them so well, these crowds who followed him on his journeys through the towns and villages. There was never a shortage of lookers-on. He knew what they wanted  -  the entertainment, the freebees, the handouts. The miracle of the leaves and fishes had made him hugely popular. Jesus needed to explain, to make them understand, these people of his, that he had to have WITNESSES, not lookers-on; he needed disciples rather than mere followers. And that there was a price.  He would pay it for them, the bulk of the cost. Each one of them would have to be prepared to give whatever was asked of them. His cross would be the greatest part; the disciple’s cross would be the balance. There was a price to be paid, certainly; but there was a huge subsidy.

Getting through a crowd like this was never easy. Most of them weren’t even listening. With followers like these, who needed enemies ?  If things went against him, they wouldn’t be long changing their tune !  That reminded Jesus to tell them the story about the fellow who had begun to build a tower and ran out of money to finish it. He had plenty onlookers, and as soon as his luck ran out they jeered and made fun of him.

My dear friends, onlookers, crowds, uncommitted followers   -  followers on foot and not with the heart; such people are no good to any cause. To succeed, any cause needs commitment. It needs those who are prepared to pay the price, to make the necessary sacrifices, to take up their cross and follow with the heart as true disciples. And sometimes it can hurt. Crosses can be very heavy for many people. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ, a Christian in the true sense of the word, means becoming involved, feeling that it makes a difference in your life. But the onlookers, those on the outside with their cheap curiosity will always have plenty to get from their following  -  they will be entertained  -  the feel-good factor is there in abundance in all forms of Christian worship. But the disciple gains so much more. Putting our commitment to Christ first in our lives means often means paying a price that seems to too high, because the disciple looks beyond consolation. For him or her, peace of mind is not the issue.

It must have been a hard message to put across to a high-spirited crowd who were not used to this sort of thing. Imagine them on the way home, more reflective now as those strange words went round in their heads: “Hating your father and mother, wife, children, and your own life, too...” And yet, somehow they knew he was not talking about hate at all. He was talking about the greatest love. “None of you can be my disciples....” Would anyone want to be a disciple under those terms ? Perhaps they had an uneasy feeling that, yes, I would like to be a disciple, to get to know him better, to trust him even when his words are so difficult to understand. Was he offering a kind of slavery  -  like a sinister sect that keeps people away from their families ? Or was he offering something that could make us really free ?  With the freedom that comes from trusting him, rather than clinging to what we know ?

We shall never know the answer without making the commitment, being prepared to pay whatever price he asks.

PRAYER by Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) + 63 years

O my God, stand by me against all the world’s wisdom and reason. Not mine, but yours in the cause. I would prefer to have peaceful days, and to be out of this turmoil. But yours, O Lord, is this cause; it is righteous and eternal. Stand by me, O God, in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, who shall be my Defence and Shelter, my Mighty Fortress, through the might and strength of your Holy Spirit. God help me.