A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
Jesus has burst onto the scene with miracles of healing and provisions of food, not to mention this wonderful theme of “love”. Loving one another is an ultra positive message. Everyone can cast a vote for “love.” It is not surprising that “now large crowds were going along with Him.” What is surprising is what He adds next to His message.
And He turned and said to them, “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)
Ok Jesus, what’s it going to be, “love” or “hate”? We know the answer. We know we are supposed to even love and pray for our enemies; how much more must we love our immediate families? So, why this bizarre command? Jesus is saying a very hard thing because He is introducing a very large and revolutionary idea. He knows people are aghast at His comment, so with their attention now in hand, He follows up with another illustration – one that will soon be fleshed out before them in an unforgettable way.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:27)
A cross is good for only one thing – effecting death to the one hanging on it. Jesus came to give us life and to give it to us in abundance. How can death be factored into life? Perhaps this is the greatest mystery we face and ironically, our teachers have told us next to nothing about it. In this vacuum how can one become an authentic follower of Jesus? A participant in abundant life? A light to the world? Jesus does not just drop this bomb and walk away. 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.’ (Luke 14:28-30)
Who would be willing to hate his immediate family? To take up their cross daily and follow Him? This tower is just too large! Well hang on; it is going too become taller yet.
So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. (Luke 14:33)
Jesus has just given us a breakdown and cost summary of this tower He has referred to. This highly visible structure is built on Christ alone. It requires that we relinquish the rights to our lives. We are no longer the sovereigns over our own lives. Like Paul and other early disciples, we carry a sentence of death within us (2 Corinthians 1:9). Our lives have been purchased; we are no longer our own. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Jesus has not changed His message but we have. The leaders of the western church have created an alternate tower – one that is much smaller, hardly noticeable but much more affordable. Being a disciple – one who has relinquished the rights to their life to God, is not a cost component of this tower. One can get into this tower with a modest downpayment of believing that Jesus died for their sins and will be taking them to heaven when they die.
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. (Luke 14:34-35)
I believe that one day, men will arise with a vision of the same tower Jesus had in mind. They will also know the actual cost and convey it on the front end of their message. The cost is in fact impossibly high but perfectly affordable, in Christ – to Whom all things are possible. I believe that one day hearts will ache, when we see how poorly we have invested. Tears will flow when we see just how deeply we have buried our talents. I believe that one day, without the slightest damage to God’s grace, we will eventually understand the mystery of the cross and its integral relationship to abundant life.
Father, may we be known for our love for You which exceeds even our love for our own families. May we emerge as those who have abandon our personal rights and who have, in turn, discovered an abundant life of joyous liberty. May we build in Your strength, in Your name, for Your glory. May we become wealthy in the greater sense as we transfer the title of all that we are and have to You. Give us ears to hear that we might become the salt and light You intended for us to become.