We are rapidly approaching the intense campaign season. (It seems that we never leave campaign season anymore. We only have less and more intense seasons of it.) Big elections will be happening soon. Debates will occur and stump speeches will be given. Each candidate will be telling you why he or she should be elected (or at least why the other guy should not be).
Most of these candidates will be telling you all that they are going to do for you. One side is going to give you all this free stuff. The other side is going to reduce your taxes. Everyone is concerned about sweetening the pot to entice you to sign on with his agenda.
What a surprise it would be if a candidate ran on a platform of you losing everything. Vote for him because in doing so there is great potential that you will be counted as an enemy by present friends and family. And if you’re really on board, the government authorities will enforce the death penalty on you as a revolutionary traitor. Does that sound like a campaign you would want to join and encourage others to join with you?
Because we are so far removed from Jesus’ original setting, it is difficult to imagine the shocking nature of his call to discipleship in Luke 14: “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.”
The first part of this call concerning hating family members and one’s own life sounds more like the platform of Black Lives Matters and their desire to destroy the Western nuclear family than it does a representative of the God who created the family. The second part of the call is no less radical. The cross was not a decorative object used in art to adorn buildings or people’s bodies in tattoos. The cross was reserved for the rebels against the Roman Empire. Calling people to take up their electric chair, hangman’s noose, or lethal injection would be something of today’s equivalent.
What’s more, if you were not willing to do hate your family, hate your own life, and bear capital punishment, you were could not be Jesus’ disciple. Those are hard words. Not exactly the words that engender excitement about your kingdom of God movement.
But there they are, hanging out there for the crowds who are on the journey with Jesus to Jerusalem (Lk 14.25). There is no relief from them in this exchange either. There is no, “If you do this, everything will be great on the other side.” Jesus only gives them the high cost of following him. They need to count the cost and make certain that they are willing to follow him where he is going. Following him to the end will require complete and utter allegiance to him above everything else in their lives. These crowds are following him now, but have they thought this all the way through? They have begun building this tower, but do they have enough to complete the project? (Lk 14.28-30) Are they fully invested, willing to follow Jesus no matter the cost?
The call to discipleship has not changed. Being a disciple of Jesus costs you everything. Everything must be subservient to and viewed in light of your relationship with Christ. If blood family vies for your ultimate loyalty, calling you away from commitment to Christ Jesus, you must be willing to count them as enemies. (“Count as enemy” is what Jesus means when he says “hate.” The visceral hate is only a secondary connotation.) They are on the other side of the battle line if they are enemies of Christ. This also applies to your own physical existence. Continuing to live in this life must not be your primary concern. You must hate your own life. Your desire to continue to live must never supersede your loyalty to Christ, for there may be a time when you must choose whether to live or die because of your commitment to Jesus.
Jesus doesn’t say, “It is difficult to be my disciple,” or “It is highly unlikely that you will be my disciple.” He says you cannot be my disciple if you are unwilling to give him your ultimate allegiance.
We in America generally have a difficult time understanding how Christian commitment can cost us family relationships or even our lives. I have the privilege of pastoring a church in which we have an international student ministry. Many of these students come from Hindu, Muslim, and atheistic societies. For them to be baptized will mean being disowned by their families or, possibly, even persecuted when they return home. Their battles over whether or not to become Christians involves these very real and immediate consequences.
Though many of us do not face the same consequences, the costs remain the same. Being a disciple of Jesus costs everything. It is rather difficult to believe that we will count our family and our own lives as enemies when we cannot even discipline ourselves to deny ourselves things that challenge our loyalty to Christ and keep us from doing what he commands.
Are you willing to leave it all, family, friends, houses, land, and even this present existence to follow Jesus? Are you willing to trust him completely, giving him your full allegiance, no matter what he calls you to let go of?
If not, you cannot be his disciple.
