The Cross of Discipleship - Luke 14:25-33

Jesus has been speaking of what it is to be a disciple. He does so by way of a simple parable: A man hosted a banquet and when everything was ready, when the party was ready to start, no one was there. He sent servants out to remind his guests of the invitation but, one by one, the guests beg off because they can’t make the party. The excuses vary but the end result is the same: they simply can’t make it.

I cannot come to the banquet, don’t bother me now;
I’ve married a wife, I’ve bought me a cow.
I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum -
Pray, hold me excused, I cannot come…

Irate, the host cancels their invitations and tells the servants to drag anyone off the streets and bring them all – the blind, the poor, the lame - to the celebration. The ones who seem to be unworthy become the worthy. The ones who seemed to be worthy and who had been extended an invitation are rejected. Why? Because they did not see the gift of discipleship that Jesus had been offering. They thought discipleship was about positions of power, a loaf of bread on every table, and being the greatest in the kingdom. They were precisely backwards.

The word “disciple” simply means “student” or “follower.” A disciple, a student is never greater than his master. In that day and age, students literally followed their teachers while they walked around. The fancy word is peripatetic – to teach while walking. Rabbis lead; disciples followed. But the pharisees had it backwards. They thought they could tell Jesus what their discipleship should look like, that they could make exceptions to the rules, that they should lead and Jesus should follow.

But it wasn’t just pharisees. Many of those in the crowds who were following Jesus had the same mindset. After all, here was One who was a great miracle worker, a great teacher, a man with gravitas – following after Him should bring all sorts of health, wealth and happiness…right?

Wrong. Discipleship isn’t easy. Whether it’s the prosperity gospel preachers of 2019 or the glory-hungry crowds that followed in Jesus’ footsteps in ancient Jerusalem, we do not get to set the terms on discipleship. It’s simply not possible, not is it permissible, to come to Jesus with explicit, up-front expectations of what discipleship is and our demands of what discipleship will give to us.

“If anyone comes after 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 beat his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (v. 26-27)

We’re not very good at cross-bearing. At least, I don’t think we are as a society, as a culture, and even as the North American church. We’ve been told for so long in our day-to-day routine that we can have it all at little or no cost and, simply, that’s not true. In fact, Jesus speaks plainly: if you don’t hate your parents, spouse, and kids and even your own life, you can’t follow me. Now, he is using something that is technically called “dialectical negation,” a type of hyperbole, where he is overstating a negative to demonstrate the power of the positive. Jesus is the Lord of love and, as C.S. Lewis says, He is not telling us to resent our family members or treat them spitefully. Jesus is pointing out the seriousness of discipleship: He is Lord and to follow Him means everything else takes a definite second place, even being willing to surrender everything else.

Do you get what Jesus is saying? No one is able to come to Jesus, to follow Him as a disciple, with our own explicit, up-front list of expectations and reservations. We can’t say, “Well, Jesus, I want to be a disciple, but I want you to know up front that my parents are really the most important people to me.” Jesus says you can’t do that. We can’t say, “I’m excited to begin this new life of discipleship, Jesus, but I’m not really into suffering, especially if I have to risk my friends, my job, and my good reputation I’ve worked so hard to attain.” Jesus says you can’t do that. We can’t say, “I’m willing to give up almost anything, but if my life’s on the line, then I may have to reconsider.” Jesus says you can’t do that.

You can only be a disciple of Jesus if you allow Him to set the pace, to guide the journey, to make the agenda. Disciples follow, remember? You cannot be His disciple on your terms. He will not accept that kind of discipleship because that’s not discipleship. That’s not following. That’s trying to lead. You don’t know the pace He will set; you don’t know where the journey will lead; you don’t know what the agenda will be. You don’t know when, or where, or why you may have to bear a cross.

A cross is not something you chose. A cross is laid upon you. Likewise, a cross isn’t an inconvenience, or a result of a bad decision, or a difficult family situation. Tobacco use, alcoholism, chronic pain – these are difficulties in life, yes, but they are not crosses as Jesus speaks of crosses.

Crosses kill. They are instruments of suffering and death. To take up your cross is to take up your death. You can’t follow Jesus without a cross. His way is the way of death and resurrection. It stands to reason that if you can’t die, you can’t rise, and if you can’t rise, well, you’re kind of stuck in your unredeemable mess. That’s the problem with the angels. They can’t die. So if you want to follow Jesus in the way He’s going, then you need to pick up that cross of yours, and go the way of death and resurrection with Him. Suddenly, this business of being a disciple doesn’t sound like so much fun anymore, does it? It sounds dangerous, deadly even.

It's no wonder that many turn away from Jesus. The crowds that were following Jesus in the middle of Luke soon began to turn away. It won’t be long that their cries go from Hosanna to Crucify Him. They don’t like discipleship. They don’t like the cross.

Remember, His face is set to Jerusalem. Jesus has His cross front and center in His gaze.

Jesus bears the cost of discipleship. That’s the good news hidden in today’s Gospel. Jesus bears the cost. He lays down His life to save the world. He becomes the world’s Sin. He dies our Death. He did not count equality with God something to be held like a treasure but emptied His grasp of all that He had to go to His own death on a cross. Jesus counted the cost of being the world’s Savior. Jesus counted the cost of rescuing you from your Sin and Death. And it was worth every drop of His holy, precious blood to save you. He gave up everything that was His – His honor, glory, dominion, power, His entire life – and for the joy of your salvation, He set His face to Jerusalem to die. He took up His cross to save you.

He didn’t ask you to choose Him. He chose you. He baptized you. He called you by His Spirit. He put you on the path of life before you even so much as twitched. You were dead and God made you alive in Christ. You were dead and God rebirthed you by water and Spirit. He placed His cross upon you, on your forehead and your heart, in token that you have been redeemed by Christ the crucified. You were captive to Sin and Death, and God made you free in Christ. Before you believed, before you were born, before you ever were, Christ was your Savior and Lord and Redeemer. You didn’t choose Him; He chose you. He laid His cross on you, not to kill you, but to bring you life

That’s where you need to be looking: not your cross, but His. This is what it means to trust. That is to say, we become disciples only by faith. And faith takes us to The Cross.

But you know there will be a cross. Discipleship says, while under the cross that has been placed upon us, I know Jesus is my savior and the Holy Spirit has brought me to faith in Him.