As we move into the long season of Pentecost, we’ll find that lectionary writers use the time to tell the stories of Jesus’ life and ministry. In today’s Gospel reading, we find a rather curious experience of Jesus with three would-be disciples. Through it we look at the question of what it means to be a disciple.
The first man met Jesus on the road and told Him he would “follow Him wherever He went.” The second man was called by the Master, but responded: “Let me go and bury my father.” The third man said: “Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say farewell to those at my home.” All three men were rejected as disciples by Jesus. To see why, picture the scenes in your mind’s eye.
The first man came to Jesus full of zeal and enthusiasm. He would follow Jesus wherever He led them! But Jesus tells him of the loneliness of discipleship. Here was a man who had not considered the demands discipleship would place upon him. He was carried away with the moment and may have been like Paul’s convert, Demas, who endured for awhile and then forsook Paul “having loved the present world.” Even though, there are those who stay with the Church until it makes demands on them or takes up an unpopular position and they desert.
Now picture the second man. Jesus said: “Follow me.” The answer came back: “let me go and bury my father.” Here was someone concerned with the traditions of religion. In that time, tradition demanded the act of a son burying his father a sacred duty. But consider this. There’s an old saying “opportunity only knocks once.” Every situation is critical and a moment missed is unlikely to return a second time. Our second person was confronted with a critical situation and chose to turn aside.
Look now at the third man. This may be the person with whom today’s busy, stressed people can most closely identify with. His answer was familiar. “I’ll follow you, but first let me go say goodbye to the folks back home.” That was code for: “Let me take care of more important business and I’ll consider it tomorrow.” In other words, I’ll follow you on my terms. How close to home does that come! Our lives today are moving so fast; changing so quickly; overloaded with information that it makes one’s head spin! We say: “If the service isn’t too long, I’ll come to Church” or “If the meeting won’t take long, I’ll be there” or “If it doesn’t cost too much, I’ll give.”
So far, we’ve seen what discipleship doesn’t mean. It does not mean blind zeal or thinking about tradition or social graces first or considering self-interest. So, what does discipleship mean? First, it means a willingness to serve. The entire life and ministry of Jesus was about service. Wherever, Jesus went, He found people who wanted Him to heal them; teach them; counsel them. And He did all those things. St. Paul, by his own admission in the Letter to the Romans, “the least of the disciples” calls himself “a slave of Christ.” So, Discipleship is service.
Next, discipleship involves denial of self. By this, I don’t mean dressing in rags and living the life of a recluse! Far from it. What do I mean, and what Jesus meant, is that we are not to have ourselves as the center of our lives. Nor are we to have the pursuit of pleasure, money or success or anything less than God Himself as our center. The self-centered life is easy to lead! By doing so, we escape involvement with others. We avoid some pain; some stress; some inconvenience. We can avoid criticism because we never have to show who we really are. We can show others only what we want them to see! We remain respectable and acceptable. So then, discipleship is loving.
Finally, and probably the most important thing to be said about discipleship can be summed up in three words: Discipleship is costly. What the three would-be disciples found was that they had to count the cost. What would following Jesus be worth to those in the long run? This is the question that is put to each one of us today as we walk our journeys of faith. What will it cost me, which really means, how do I need to be different?
The great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an educator, pastor, and martyr under the Nazis in 1945. Much of his writing was done in the prison camps in which he found himself. And they are concerned almost entirely with a living definition of discipleship that is still good today. One of the ways Bonhoeffer demonstrated his discipleship was by loving his Nazi captors . . . in fact, it is said that they wept as he was executed. Bonhoeffer believed that discipleship, in this case choosing love over hate of his evil captors, was part and parcel of living the Christian life. What does that mean for us today?
The steps to discipleship are clear. The first is to put our focus on living our lives following Jesus examples of serving and loving others. This step makes faith possible. It is, in fact, the “leap of faith” because it involves risk and often giving up those things that our society values like money and prestige. Out of this comes the adherence to the call of Jesus and the impetus for service, giving, and loving. In the end, discipleship means accepting Jesus’ call on His terms and being willing to risk the cost while trusting in God’s grace. There is no other way!
Source: © The Rev. Peter Groschner, June 26, 2016. Luke 9:51-62. Reprinted with permission from the author.