The Cost Of Discipleship
THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP
LUKE 14:25-35
Jesus drives the point home: “Look before you leap—but leap you must, so make sure it’s the right way!”
Verses 25-26. No verses could more strikingly illustrate the need for Western readers to realize that they are reading the poetic language of the East. Hyperbole, or purposeful exaggeration, is a recognized figure of speech. The words cannot be taken literally, because the One who bade his followers love their enemies would not call them in fact to hate their own folk. The expression merely establishes absolute priorities, and its use in this context flows from the third excuse of the man in the story of the ungrateful guests. Loyalty to Christ is so demanding that it takes precedence over all other claims, however natural and legitimate, upon the life. It overrides all other obligations. See 12:51,53.
14:27-30. Christianity is an arduous, toilsome and costly business. It is like engaging on a building project, a metaphor taken up by Paul (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). It demands dogged perseverance, and continuance to the end.
14:31-32. Christianity is also a battle, a figure of speech also taken up by Paul (Ephesians 6:11-17). The warring monarch counts the cost of hostilities. Let no one forget that the Christian life is a challenge to the powers of evil, which will undoubtedly be taken up. It is a warfare which never ends, and recruits should count the cost.
14:34-35. Those who do count the cost, and are ready to pay it, are like salt; they preserve the mass from utter corruption. The rock salt of Palestine is said to have lost its sharpness and usefulness by some form of chemical breakdown in the place of storage. It was henceforth of no use save as a form of gravel. The Christian who has lost his usefulness, his antiseptic function in a corrupt society, his sharp distinctive flavor, is of no use at all. For Christian discipline, compare Romans 8:13; Philippians 3:7f.; Colossians 3:5.
Notes 14:25: en route for Jerusalem, Jesus, as a potential Messiah, was increasingly thronged—but plainly discouraged a mass movement. 14:29,31 refer possibly to the Herods indirectly, their building ambitions, and Herod Antipas’ defeat by Hareth of Arabia. 14:33: “renounce” “say goodbye to,” 2 Corinthians 4:2.