The Gospel for MONDAY, May 23, 2005
Luke 14:25-35
Great crowds accompanied him on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘Anyone who comes to me without hating father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, cannot be my disciple. No one who does not carry his cross and come after me can be my disciple. ‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, anyone who saw it would start making fun of him and saying, “Here is someone who started to build and was unable to finish.” Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who was advancing against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple without giving up all that he owns. ‘Salt is a good thing. But if salt itself loses its taste, what can make it salty again? It is good for neither soil nor manure heap. People throw it away. Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
Considering the Cost
Going up against twice the force? If victory is possible, would it be worth it? Jesus says that the victory is worth it, and moreover, that the cost is everything we have.
A Reflection
When the salt of which Jesus speaks loses its flavor, it becomes a thing of negative value, stuff surrounding us which requires effort to discard, just to get us back to zero.
Is that where Jesus is taking the discussion? If we throw ourselves headlong into following Him, without considering the cost, and then reject Him and abandon Him because the cost is too high, with what are we left?
In some places in the world today, the price for following Jesus is as it was in many places in the first century: death as a martyr. What benefit is it that martyrs see?
The difference between where we are and where Jesus can take us is very much greater when we are in a position of hope-less-ness -- some think. Our very human condition knows only suffering and joy and a very few places in between.
Consider though, that the martyr is one inch down the road while we are ten miles down the road, in terms of human comfort. When we realize that the place that Jesus wants us to be is millions of miles away, the difference between one inch and ten miles isn't even worth examining.
Being ten miles down the road, however, means that we can follow Jesus without worrying over losing our families stuck in worshipping the Law, or losing our lives to a pagan dictator. Those worries behind us, what is it that's keeping us from taking the next step into the journey that Jesus wants us to take?
A Collect
Show us, Lord Jesus, that what we have to gain in you is worth far more than that which we must abandon to follow you. Amen.
7:34:35 PM 
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