The Discipleship-O-Meter

Luke 14:25-33

Now large crowds were traveling with [Jesus], and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.  Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’  Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?  If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.  So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

So, today we need to figure out how to be good disciples by hating mom, dad, brothers and sisters… Oh, and don’t forget, hating the kids and spouse too!  But before we get to THAT fun, we first need to remember that in this lesson Jesus is talking about DISCIPLESHIP and not SALVATION… two churchy words that we should not get confused.  SALVATION is going to heaven, getting your mansion in the sky, eating food rich with marrow and well aged wines strained clear at a feast that never ends… all of THAT.  THAT is SALVATION.  SALVATION is a complete and total GIFT from God.  In Christ’s life, death and resurrection we are ALL given SALVATION as a free gift with no take-backsies!  Salvation is God’s Work AND as the song says, “The Strife is O’er, the Battle is Done.”  You’re in!

THIS lesson is about DISCIPLESHIP.  DISCIPLESHIP is the particular Way that we Christians are called to walk through this thing called “life”.  I think what this lesson is trying to tell us (albeit in a super dramatic, confusing way) is that to be a Disciple means to prioritize our walking through this life on what I like to call “The Jesus Way” over all the other possible “ways” we are pushed and pulled to walk through this life… the family way, the friend way, the way of success, the career way, the money way, the way of possessions… just to name a few.  

I DON’T think Luke is using the word “HATE” here to call us to an emotional hatred of our own families.  I also DON’T think Jesus is calling us to a life cut off from all familial relationships, living a hermit’s existence without money or possessions.  What I DO think Luke is doing here is trying to tell us that as we begin to prioritize walking The Jesus Way over all those other ways we are pulled and pushed to walk through this life, it may very well FEEL at first… both to us doing the walking and to those around us… like we have suddenly begun to HATE those who now come behind walking The Jesus Way.  

I think that is what we see from the crowd that was following Jesus.  They had all been following Jesus because, well, he was awesome!  He had fed 5000 people!  He healed folks and cast out demons, he calmed storms and walked on water… People were following Jesus because… WOW!  They all said, “Let’s tag along and see what amazing thing this guy does next?”  But when Jesus turned around, he told that crowd that following him JUST to see the next awesome thing, isn’t Discipleship.  The loaves and fishes might have been free, but REAL discipleship… that costs BIG!!  So how do you even do THAT?  How do you put all those other possible ways to walk through the world behind The Jesus Way? 

I don’t know how YOU do that, but the way I do that is… POORLY… INCOMPLETELY… in fits and starts… and with grand intentions that never quite fully pan out.  That’s how I do discipleship.  Don’t get me wrong.  I FULLY understand what Jesus is asking of me.  It is the same thing he asked of all those people following him, to walk onto God’s Way and put everything, and everyone else, behind that.  I get it… and I really do try… a lot of the time… well, some of the time… I really do try though!  Honest!  But even with all that effort, I think the maximum I have ever hit on the ol’ Discipleship-O-Meter is about 10.3% Disciple… and that was on my most Disciple-y day ever.

Other folks have been known to do better.  Mother Teresa once got to about 89% on the Discipleship-O-Meter, but she also had years and years of doubt and darkness where she was down in single digits.  Saint Peter once got to a 93% for a minute when he said “Jesus, you’re the Messiah” but then just a couple of steps later and he pegged the needle back at zero when he told Jesus “by no means” should he go to Jerusalem.  The point is, nobody ever makes it all the way to 100% on the Discipleship-O-Meter.  Discipleship is a walk that is technically within our reach, because it doesn’t demand MORE than what we have, BUT, since it demands nothing LESS than EVERYTHING we have, we humans, by the nature of simply “being human”… will always fall short.

Still, even though nobody ever gets to 100% discipleship, Jesus, and Luke in his telling of this story, are trying to help us understand that it is STILL, really worth making the walk along The Jesus Way a priority for just as long and as far as we can manage each and every day.  Because as we walk, step by step along The Way; as we strive to love God more completely and love our neighbors more sacrificially… as we live each day doing more justice, loving more kindness and walking more humbly like Jesus did… step by step we will find that we are ACTUALLY living more deeply into the life we have been given… a life that is meant to be full of meaning, purpose, and contentment AND it turns out that the more we are able to prioritize that walk into discipleship itself… the more room that walk makes within our being for the joy filled, abundant life we were all created to live AND the more room that walk makes within our being for mom, dad, brothers and sisters, the kids and yes, even for the spouse!  Amen.