What does it cost to follow Jesus?

XXIII C Luke 14:25-33 Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

There has to be a mistake in the Gospel today. “Jesus is all about love; love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemy and do good to those who hate you.” It seems that today’s gospel must be out of place. In Spanish the reading says, “Prefer” If someone wants to be my disciples and doesn’t prefer me over his mother or father, wife or children he can’t be my disciple. That is certainly more palatable. Sure, Jesus has to be number 1 and then I can keep on doing everything like I did before. Just put Jesus first! Unfortunately the truth is probably some where in the middle. Today’s Gospel is about the cost of discipleship. Jesus uses the example of building a tower or going to war. Before you begin you figure out how much it is going to cost you. Well, the cost of discipleship is everything! To be a follower of Jesus you have to love him first and foremost, you have to get rid of any possessions that stand in the way of following Jesus then you can pick up your cross and begin to follow Jesus. You can’t hold anything back, you can’t be a lukewarm follower of Jesus. No, if you want to be follower of Jesus you must be willing and able to give him your all. That is why Jesus is using language to shock us, because he wants to shake us up and let us know how serious it is that call to be a disciple of Jesus. There is no middle road, there is no room for lukewarm Christians. If you think, “sure I’ll be a follower of Jesus, but I don’t want to be stretched or made to feel uncomfortable.” You are a luke warm christian. You might go to Church every Sunday, help the poor and be a good father or mother, son or sister, but it isn’t really enough. A lukewarm Christian is one who just goes with the flow, there aren’t willing to speak the truth in an uncomfortable situation, a luke warm christian is one who believes it is ok to follow some church teachings but others no, a luke warm christians loves those who love them, a luke warm Christian turns their head when they see injustices rather than speaking up, a luke warm christian is content, “I am a ok follower of Jesus.” I might not be a Saint but at least I am not the worse sinner.” What’s the cost of being a follower of Jesus? It is Everything. If you really want to be a follower of Jesus your family, your possessions, your job, even you very self and your reputation can’t come before Jesus. Jesus is first. The luke warm Christian is the “good enough” Christian. He pretty much follows all of the commandments, he is about as good as most followers of Jesus, he is no Mother Teresa but he is also no Adolf Hitler. God save us from good enough Christians. God save us from content Christians, God save us from OK Christians. But how do we get out of that rut? How can we really give our all to Jesus? How can we pick up our crosses and begin the serious work of discipleship? I believe the answer is by not being content. I believe the way out is to what to be more. Yes, we can all say, “I am a pretty good Christian.” But regardless of who you are, ask yourself, “What can I do to be a better Christian? What can I do this day to be the best Christian that I can be? St. Ignatius of Loyola was big on the Examen. The examen is simply asking yourself in the morning, “what can I do to be a better Christian today?” The examen is simply asking yourself in the evening, “What did I do well today, and what can I do better tomorrow?” If we ask ourselves each day how we can be a better follower of Jesus we are on the road to be an onfire Christian. It won’t be easy, just like we shouldn’t think it is easy to “prefer Jesus” over everyone else. But with the grace of the Holy Spirit and a willingness to work at our faith it can be done. And I am sure that Jesus will look at us say, “you may not be worthy, but by my grace you may be my disciple!” The gospel says that great crowds were following Jesus, I am sure that Jesus turned around and looked at these great crowds and he thought, “I am making it too easy.” He wanted to scare them, he wanted to challenge them.” It was too easy to be a mediocre follower of Jesus. To be a follower of Jesus means to love him first and foremost, to get rid of everything or anything that stands in your way and finally picking up our crosses. If you know these things, blessed will you be if you do them.