Counting the cost

In today’s Gospel reading we are told that there are large crowds travelling with Jesus. Large crowds who were identifying with him and following him.

Each traveller had their own personal reasons for doing this. Maybe some were children and had no choice in the matter. They were travelling with Jesus because their parents were. Others were interested in his teachings and wanted to hear more.

Some might have witnessed his miracles and believed that He was God-sent. Others may have been healed by Jesus or forgiven by him. Perhaps some had heard that he had fed the 5,000 and were travelling with Jesus in the hopes they would get a free meal or two.

Whatever their individual reasons for embarking on their journey with Jesus, whatever our own individual reasons for travelling with Jesus, in today’s passage Jesus stops them in their tracks with some challenging comments.

He turns to face the crowd following him and asks them to consider their level of commitment to Him; to consider their reasons for travelling with Him. To consider whether they are actually his followers – students willing to learn from and become like their teacher.

The statements Jesus makes here can make us feel uncomfortable. Is He really asking us to hate our parents, to hate our siblings and our own children? No. He is making a point about loyalty and commitment. He is saying that the Christian journey isn’t one we should embark upon lightly. Salvation is a free gift but discipleship, truly walking Jesus’s path, is costly. It’s not easy.

Jesus is telling the crowds that His own journey, the one they have started travelling with him on, isn’t going to be easy. That in a little while his road will lead Him to Jerusalem: to a place of betrayal, false accusations, and an unfair trial and sentence. His journey will involve being beaten, stripped of even the clothing on his back, abandonment by his friends and mockery from his enemies. At the foot of the cross He will hang on, the large crowds who are now travelling with him will have dwindled down to just a couple of women weeping below Him.

When Jesus says “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” He is saying that if we are his followers, if we are learning from him and following his message, and sharing his message, the Gospel, with the world around us, we will experience what He experienced on this earth.

Yes, we will experience the love of our Heavenly Father and have access to His throne through our prayers, we will receive the comfort and guidance of the Holy Spirit throughout our lives. But we will also share in the suffering of Jesus.

We will be misunderstood if our values or what we believe goes against the values and beliefs of the wider society. Some of us may lose out financially if our workplace is calling us to do something that goes against our integrity and we have to come forward and blow the whistle.

We may be mocked for still believing in a “Sky Fairy” as society becomes increasingly atheistic and cynical of the claims of every religion.

Jesus isn’t trying to deter people from embarking on the journey with Him, He just wants people to go into it with their eyes open. He’s the opposite of those adverts you hear on the radio for loans which state loudly and clearly all the benefits but then quietly and quickly run through a list of all the downsides – yes, you may lose your house if you miss some repayments and the interest rate is extortionately high but we’ll put that in the small print.

No. Jesus looks them all in the eye and warns them of the downsides of being his disciple. He wants them to make an informed decision. To sit down and estimate the cost.

Me and one of my Christian friends used to half-jokingly admit that we feared committing fully to God because we didn’t want him to tell us to go and be a missionary somewhere in a remote land. When we read today’s passage we might wonder, is Jesus saying we have to give away everything we own and become homeless? Is he calling us all to be monks and nuns?

For some people that is what he calls them to, but what he is calling every follower to, what he is asking of those who are his disciples, is that we give ourselves, our lives, wholly to God’s service.

When a soldier enlists with the army they are offering their lives to the service of their country. They are putting their lives on the line even though they know they could be leaving an orphaned child behind or a widow, or grieving parents. They don’t hate their family or their own lives. But they have enlisted in the armed service. They have pledged loyalty to a mission and a purpose that is higher than their individual plans and hopes. Despite their love for their families and their lives, they are prepared to lay it all on the line in service to their nation. This is what Jesus points out is the difference between travelling with Him in the crowd and truly being His disciple, enlisting in his Kingdom.

What are we doing? Are we travelling with Jesus – part of the crowd of nominal and cultural Christians - or are we his disciples? Do we see our travels in the same way as our summer holidays? A new way of living for a while but knowing we will return home and go back to our previous lives? Have we counted the cost of what it means to be Children of God, to be joint-heirs with Jesus?

For Mary, who we remember today, serving God’s purpose risked her engagement to the man she loved. It meant offering her body to be the vessel for the baby who would save the whole world.

Taking up our cross and following Jesus is to follow Him into the unknown. It is to walk sometimes blindly through obstacles and storms. Not always seeing a way out but being reminded – in the midst of our fear and worry – that Jesus is in the boat with us. He has the power to quiet the storms. And He can empower us to walk on the water – to do the impossible – as long as we keep our eyes on Him.

Next month I will be licensed as a Reader, offering myself to serve God in this parish. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am at heart a shy person, that I don’t have a lot of self-confidence, that I don’t like to be on centre stage and would much rather blend into the background. But it seems that at this point in my journey I’ve been called to give up my dreams of a quiet, anonymous life; and instead to speak in front of crowds, no matter how terrified I am.

His love compels me to take up my cross and follow Him into the unknown, trusting that He is with me on this journey. I know storms will come. I know that being a disciple will at times cause tensions and strains within my family, people won’t always understand the call that God has on your life.

Taking up our cross and following Jesus may look like having to make peace or offer forgiveness to those who have wronged us. As Philemon was asked to do by Paul in his letter. Taking up our cross and following Jesus may look like being imprisoned or penalised in some way because of our Faith in Jesus, as Paul was imprisoned, and as the Christians in countries like Pakistan are facing currently. It might look like standing for unity and peace at a time when our country is divided politically over Brexit.

We have a choice. We can travel with Jesus on the outskirts or we can choose discipleship – taking up our cross and following Him. The second choice is costly. But that choice, which could lead us to the death of our self-interest, the death of our personal plans and hopes, or even physical death, is actually choosing life. It is choosing to be passengers and servants in God’s mission of healing and salvation to the world.

And it is knowing that – no matter what it costs us – Jesus has already walked this road and He promises to be with us until we get to the end of ours.