Now large crowds were going along with Him (from Luke 14:25)

I believe the reason Jesus addressed this crowd as he did was because he loved them and he knew they were following him for the wrong reasons. He had to shake them loose of their wrong motives so that he might begin saving them. He knew what was in their hearts would not get them across the finish line.

Just seeing Jesus as a prophet or even as the long awaited King of the Jews was not going to cut it. Even if they were embracing him as their long awaited Savior, what did they think he was saving them from? Rome? Being caught up in the zeal of Judaism or Israeli-nationalism was not going to help this crowd. Even their aspiration of seeing more miracles or being healed themselves was of no eternal value. Moth and rust were coming for all their dreams. In his ever-wise, all-powerful love, the Lord of Hosts had to explode the ideas driving this crowd. He armed his next missile with a nuclear warhead.

“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26)

I would not have been surprised if the next verse had read…

“After saying these things, crowds were no longer a problem because no-one had ears to hear these words.” (Rob’s Imagined Translation)

When the concussion struck, people were reeling; “Hate my parents, who I have been commanded to honor!?” “Hate my children who are gifts from God?!” “Hate my own life which was intricately formed in secret by the very hands of God? “Hate?!” “Didn’t Jesus say we were to love even our enemies?” As hearts were scrambling for any kind of solid ground, Jesus added;

“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:27)

I would like to hear the television super stars expound on this passage. With their million dollar smiles, I would especially like to hear them tell their crowds how this particular bomb has contributed to their prosperous lives. I have the tiniest suspicion that Luke 14:25-34 is intentionally avoided because it would effect crowds which ultimately effects revenues. And we have been conditioned to understand: No revenues = no ministry. Yes, I am a tiny bit jaded.

What Jesus was building would require significant demolition before actual construction could begin. His aim was to obliterate anything that would get in the way of his project which had dimensions far beyond what they could fathom.

Crowds do not directly equate to God’s family (the original point). With this crowd, Jesus was doing the advance work of preparing their collective heart to become the new Holy of Holies – God”s residence on earth. God’s project included each of them becoming living stones, and priests and kings. He was preparing them to be grafted into the Vine – who is Christ. The Spirit of God was going to take up residence in them as they embraced his son for who he actually was (not at all who they dreamed him to be). Jesus was nothing less than the very Life of God. 

Whether they are in auditoriums, on line or in their living rooms, crowds gather to hear things that match their hopes and dreams. They gather to hear words that will help them improve and extend their lives on earth. To save them from this dead-end venture, Jesus must first destroy their ideas. He continues…

For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. (Luke 14:28-33)

God knows we are entangled with the world and he knows that death will be the consequence of this. In Christ, through us, God is waging war against death. He knows that we must first understand the true gospel – the one that is free yet will cost us everything. As alien as it may be to our ears, there has never been any other way to follow Jesus than to cede the title-deed of one’s life back to the Him – the Giver of that life. Our surrender is the beginning of our disentanglement. Those being disentangled have relevance on earth.

“Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke14:34-35)

The hope-filled verse that shapes my prayer will be Hebrews 6:9;

But, beloved, even though we speak to you in this way, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and of things that accompany salvation. (AMP)

Father, while we may not have eyes to see the shape and dimensions of what You are building, most of us know, in our gut, that what we are building is in vain. May you demolish and build to Your heart’s content in Your Body as it yet resides on earth. For Your name’s sake. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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