Count The Expenses (On Luke 14: 25 - 35)

Yesterday, the Sunday mass bible reading included this part

Now large crowds began to follow Jesus, because apparently they wanted some of the power he had demonstrated. I think they thought that if they stuck with him (like the twelve or the seventy desciples) he'll impart some of that power to them. So Jesus said the following to them:

 25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

I doubt the original word would be translated hate, but even if it did, I'll choose to read it as "stop relying on them for power".

(Too elaborate, maybe, but I'm not introducing a radically new reading here, merely a more meaningful one -you'll see why- since almost every reading avoided the direct meaning of the word Hate to maintain moral consistency)

This might have some significence if we bear in mind that the paragraph right before that one was the Parable of the Great Banquet, whose most convincing reading in my opinion was that it's about the casting out of the Jews when they hung on to their traditions and "comfort zone" rather than go after real fulfillment.

So effectively, Jesus is telling the Jews here that they shouldn't expect to be able to follow him (which is what they were after) & also rely on their old food to satisfy them.

Neither their families nor their tradition will do them much good as far as their "Salvation" or happiness is concerned. They'll have to be refused (the cross bit makes that even clearer) by their old world to follow him into a new one.

So what's the alternative? I mean even for those who stuck with their old, seemingly safe lives, did it work?

Actually the question is can it work? For the Jews or for any of us??

 28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

So we want to be happy, we want to get the best deal out of living.

In fact, we don't just want the best deal, we want that deal to be enough to make us perfectly happy.

So we sit and estimate the costs...

What will it take? a big family? a beautiful wife? beautiful children?? loyal friends? perfect soulmates? a prestigous job? a multi-storey house? money? how much money??

Thing is, if we really sit down & estimate the costs of being perfectly happy, I doubt we'll manage to find a way to muster sufficient resources. It just won't work! So what are we really hoping to accomplish if we stick to our resources?!

 31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

I have heard a few different readings of this parable, none of them was in the least bit satisfying to me, then yesterday it just hit me that the "other king" whom we seem to be intent on fighting is actually God!

And this parable seems to me to be about the inescapable love of God!

God came to win humanity over, the Jews fought back his love offer and clung to their egos and traditions.

But can we really defeat God? Can we win the war against God's love?!

Note that his armies (his means and abilities) far surpass our own, and if we sit down and carefully consider it, we'll find out that we really won't stand a chance. So wouldn't it be better to save ourselves the pain and earlier on "ask for terms of peace"?

So God seems to be telling us that we shouldn't fight that war.

But he's also letting us play it our way, so if we insist on holding on to our old, fake sources of safety, then well, we won't follow him.

And to sum up he says that

 34"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. 
      "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Which is a continuation of the Parable of the Great Banquet as well. If they said No, they will simply be "uninvited" and thrown out of the "God's People" (which also means his desciples) circle.

In my opinion, bearing in mind the last parable, the story shouldn't end there.

Thankfully, it doesn't...