Counting the Cost

Luke 14:25-33

I think it is safe to say we’ve all heard the expression, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” Everything has a cost of some kind whether it’s measured in dollars and cents, days, hours and minutes, or by talent and natural ability. When I played a sport in high school, the cost I paid was the free time I once had after school to play, relax, watch TV or do whatever. That time was used for practice, of course. And once I was home, what time I had was used for doing homework and studying for exams. Every decision we make each and every day has a cost involved from the trivial to the significant. 

Our text today confronts us with hard choices and jars us of any notion that being a Christian leads to social or worldly benefit. “For when Christ calls a person”, says Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “he bids him come and die.” Jesus knows he is on the way to the cross, while those listening thought he was on his way to overthrow the Roman occupation and build a new nation. That’s why he spoke to people the way he did. While there are scripture texts that comfort the disturbed, this one disturbs the comfortable.

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, but for what reason? Is it a funeral procession? It appears that Jesus is the only one who has seriously considered the issue of his death. His disciples haven’t done so. Is it a march? Some think so, imagining a clash of epic proportions: Galilee vs. Jerusalem, peasants vs. power, laity vs. clergy, Jews vs. Romans, Jesus vs. the religious and political establishment. Is it a parade? Obviously this crowd thinks so, oblivious to any conflict, any price to pay, any cross to bear. The crowds grow because everyone loves a parade. What does Jesus have to say to these hasty volunteers? Think about what you are doing and decide if you are willing to stay with me all the way. To answer the call of the cross, you must be willing to count the cost.

There are many of us who are willing to count the cost while there are so many of us who are not. Those who are not willing to count the cost want to follow Christ with their words but are not willing to be one of his disciples with their actions. You can be a member of a group, team or committee entrusted to do some given work or a specific project without pulling your own weight; that is without doing your part. It’s like the student who attends the lectures, but is not a true student in the eyes of the professor because they don’t actively engage the course material. It’s a hardship for the church universal – so many distant followers and a few real disciples.

In order to truly follow Christ and claim we are one of his disciples, we must understand the demands and priorities of discipleship. Imagine you are on a great expedition forging a way through a high and dangerous mountain pass to bring urgent medical aid to a village isolated from the rest of the world. The leader of the trip says, “If you want to come any further, you’ll have to leave your packs behind. From here on the path is too steep to carry all that stuff. You probably won’t find it again. And you’d better send your last postcards home; this is a dangerous route and it’s very likely that several of us won’t make it back.” We can understand this. We may not like the sound of it, but we get it and it makes some sense. There is a cost involved here. To count the cost of following Christ as one of his disciples is to surrender everything to Him; to be prepared to lose it all, and abandon it all for the sake of the call to follow Christ. The one who follows Jesus is not going to receive power and glory, “but must be ready for a loyalty, which would sacrifice the dearest things in life, for a suffering which would be like the agony of a man upon a cross.”

In his book, “The Cost of Discipleship”, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “Every moment and every situation challenges us to action and to obedience. We have literally no time to sit down and ask ourselves whether so-and-so is our neighbor or not. We must get into action and obey — we must behave like a neighbor to him. But perhaps this shocks you. Perhaps you still think you ought to think out beforehand and know what you ought to do. To that, there is only one answer. You can only know and think about it by actually doing it. It is no use asking questions; for it is only through obedience that you come to learn the truth.”

It is not enough to talk the talk of faith. We must walk the walk of discipleship. We must make our commitment to Christ with our eyes wide open to the cost whether it involves building a tower or preparing an army to go to war. Who would fail to make a proper assessment before building a tower? Who would ignore reconnaissance before starting a war? None of us would for we know it is not enough to talk about helping feed the poor, we must put our words into action by setting up a food closet or a soup kitchen. It is not enough to talk about helping fight ignorance, hatred and terrorism in a nation like Pakistan, we must support missionary efforts to educate the young people there so that true peace may become a reality. We must ask ourselves does this cost more than I am able or willing to pay? Do I possess the resources to carry it through to completion? 

In 1977 Oscar Romero, a quiet, traditional cleric, was consecrated Arch bishop of San Salvador. Deemed a safe bet by government authorities, his installation service was even used as an excuse for more government- sanctioned murders. The killings radicalized Romero, prompting him to agree with the sentiment circulated by the priests aligned with the poor people of the country: The church is where it always should have been: with the people, surrounded by wolves.

The martyrdom of a rural priest furthered Romero's radicalism. Against official policies Romero began to support new liturgies and worship services more relevant to the poor and oppressed. He called for the church to become the voice of those whose voices were stopped up. Romero became more and more of a thorn in the government's side.

On March 24, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero celebrated Mass from behind the altar of the Chapel of the Divine Providence in San Salvador. As he raised the elements and proclaimed, This is my body given for you ... this is my blood shed for you, a single shot was fired. Romero collapsed, his heart pierced by an assassin's bullet.

The word sacrament comes from a Latin word used for the loyalty oath a Roman soldier took to the emperor. A soldier took a sacramentum to serve the emperor faithfully, even to death. Similarly, when we drink the cup and eat the bread, are we not renewing our vows to be faithful to Christ, until death? Archbishop Romero knew the meaning of discipleship. He stands as one of the great Christian martyrs of our time.[i]

Being disciples in the world today is challenging. It implies a commitment on our part to be in our world what Jesus was for his: healer and prophet, voice and heart, call and sign of the God whose design for this world is justice and love. It infers, implies, and requires of us the confirming love Jesus had for everyone, everywhere — regardless of who might try to draw limits around the love of God. 

Being a disciple means working to make life better for others, going beyond our lives to improve the lives of others. “To follow Jesus is to follow the one who turns the world upside down”. 

May we renew our commitment as disciples of Jesus Christ today to answer the call of the cross knowing we must be willing to count the cost. Amen.

[i] Christopher C. Walker, Connecting with the Spirit of Christ, Evangelism for a Secular Age (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1988), 104.