TO BE A DISCIPLE

Lestionary passage: Luke 14:25-33 (NRSV) - Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26 "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. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 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? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' 31 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? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

To be a disciple of Jesus today
        means seeing our riches as loss,
to follow the truth, and the life, and the way,
        and bearing, like Jesus, our cross.

To be a disciple of Jesus demands
        that our love for him be so great
that all earthly ties that obscure his commands
        in light of Christ’s love are as hate.

To be a disciple means counting the cost
        and knowing the price we must pay.
It means not regretting what we may have lost,
        and giving possessions away.

To be a disciple of Jesus today
        means being the salt of the earth.
But if all its saltiness faded away,
        how much would the salt then be worth?

To be a disciple of Jesus today
        is not that much different from then,
and what he said then he would still want to say
        in challenging women and men.