onthly MeditationMeditation for February 2010
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Judith reads:
This month’s meditation is on two parables that are linked together under one theme—counting the cost before beginning a new venture—and continues on our path of looking at the parables of Jesus that are unique to the Gospel of St. Luke. I will be considering The Parable of Building and The Parable of the Warring King as one. This meditation, then, is on the ninth parable of Jesus found only in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 14: 28 – 33.
By this time in his ministry, Jesus had a large crowd of followers. Many had seen or heard of the miracles he had performed and they began to see him as the answer to all their problems. He could save them from their poverty-stricken lives, from their illnesses, and even from death. If they followed Jesus they anticipated that all their difficulties would disappear.
Jesus told them that following him would not be such an easy ride. In fact, if they wanted to be his disciples, each must carry his own cross. Following Jesus would not eliminate all their problems; when they experienced the miracles he performed they saw the good side of being his disciples but they needed to be aware of the very real difficulties that would also come if they embarked on a life of following Christ.
Jesus advised the people in the crowd to take into consideration the whole cost of discipleship before beginning on the journey—to look at the negatives as well as the positives—otherwise their discipleship would not last when bad times rolled around. Being a disciple of Jesus was a good thing but it would not guarantee that bad things would not happen to them on the pilgrim road.
To illustrate this Jesus tells the two parables. First he gives the example of a person who is thinking of constructing a building. He would not begin construction, Jesus says, without first calculating the cost to see if there was enough money to finish it. (New Living Translation) The second example Jesus gives is of a king who wants to go to war against another king. Jesus says that he would not do this without sitting down with his counsellors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him. (NLT)
Before we commit to a life of following Christ, we must first consider what will be involved, and count the cost to see if we will be able to stick to our commitment when the going gets tough. You cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own, Jesus says.
When we first begin to follow Christ, we can calculate the cost of discipleship in only general terms; the specific costs of following Christ are discovered hour by hour and day by day as we live our lives of discipleship. The costs will be different for each one of us, and it is only when we meet up with our individual crosses that we will know what the cost will be.
It is as if we were building a structure and discover unexpected costs that we did not know about when we first made our general calculations. Unless we want to abandon our building, these costs have to be paid when they arise.
So it is with discipleship. Unless we decide to abandon Christ, we must pay whatever costs come along during our pilgrimage. We will not be alone; Jesus will be with us, helping us through our difficulties, and showing us the best way to follow him no matter what the cost, without abandoning Jesus and our discipleship.
© Judith Lawrence
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