The Marvelous Cost Of Discipleship

September 4, 2022

Rev. Mary Erickson

Hope Lutheran Church

Luke 14:25-33

The Marvelous Cost of Discipleship

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is Labor Day weekend. Typically, we think of Labor Day as the last big holiday of the summer. It’s about backyard cookouts and the Minnesota State Fair. It marks the unofficial end to summer. After Labor Day, school begins again and we’re back to the fall routine.

Labor Day began more than a century ago. In the late 1800’s the working conditions for laborers were extremely poor. They worked 12 or more hours a day, six days a week. They worked in unsafe and crowded conditions. They lived in poverty. Laborers weren’t valued.

The first Labor Day parade occurred in New York City in September 1882. Thousands of workers took the day off without pay so that they could participate in the parade. It was a demonstration of the value and dignity of laborers. Labor Day became an official national holiday in 1894.

On this Labor Day weekend, we lift up the significance of our daily labors, our vocation. The word “vocation” derives from the Latin root “vocatio.” It means “calling.” Our vocation is our calling. Perhaps you think that only people in my profession are called. Society tends to limit the sense of calling to people in holy professions. But that completely short changes the biblical understanding of our labors. We’re all called into service in Christ’s name.

There’s a saying attributed to Martin Luther: “The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”

We are each endowed with a call to serve our neighbor and our world. We serve in a variety of ways. St. Paul likened us to a body with all its separate organs and parts. Each unique body member fulfills its peculiar function and that allows the body as a whole to flourish.

Likewise, it takes ALL of us with our unique abilities and paths of service to the world. We each have our necessary gifts to offer.

In our passage today from the gospel of Luke, Jesus sees the massive crowds of people who are following him. He considers all the reasons they may have chosen to tag along. Are they there to see a spectacle? Did they come to witness for themselves this new personality who is trending hotly? Are they following so that they might see a flashy miracle?

Jesus lays it out to them. “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Crosses were not blingy, glamorous things worn around the necks of rock stars. They were instruments of agonizing torture and death. People avoided crosses then.

Jesus wants people to give some thought to their actions. Why are the following him? To really follow him involves a cost, a cost to their lives. Following Jesus isn’t meant to be just one more area of interest in their busy, diverse lives. It’s meant to be the heart and center of all that they are. Have they considered the cost of discipleship?

He uses some language that’s not immediately understandable to us. “Whoever comes to me and doesn’t HATE their parents, spouse and children – even life itself – can’t be my disciple.”

To hate something in the way Jesus states was a figure of speech in his culture and day. It didn’t mean to despise and loathe something. In this context, it was comparative. It means to love something less than another thing. Jesus is saying that you can’t place your life or family or material things above your faith and commitment to following him. Jesus is saying, “Love your family, love your life. But love me MORE. Place me in the very center.”

Jesus is calling them – and us – to stop and consider. Think on what your faith means to you. Think and pray. Have you placed your faith on a back burner? Is it something that’s nice to fill in your empty crevices when you have a little extra time? Where does your relationship with God fall? This is your God, your creator and sustainer. This is the divine source of life in whom you live and move and have your being. This is your Savior, who came to redeem you from sin and death, who loves you, you so much that he poured out his all for your redemption.

Jesus turns and says to them, stop and consider. Where is God in your life? Have you sidelined God? Don’t follow me, he says, unless you’re all in.

Jesus tells them two parables that have to do with counting the cost. When considering a large building project, first do the math to see if you have the financial means to finish it. Or before engaging in a war, make sure your military has what it takes to meet the power of your opponent.