Luke 14.25-33
Making a start, counting the Cost.
It looks as if they were starting something – or expecting Jesus to start something. Great crowds of excited, enthusiastic people were travelling along with Jesus, wherever he was going. They had seen or heard about him “breaking the rules” by healing someone, right in front of the synagogue crowd, on the Sabbath day. They had heard that his teaching was about choosing the lowest place, about mixing with the lowest people, and about the great “banquet” of the Kingdom of God, and how it was important not to turn that invitation down. “If that is what Jesus is about doing – a banquet of Kingdom blessings that heals the sick, levels out the inequalities, challenges hypocrisy – life could be better for the poorest people. We're in!” They wanted a piece of the Kingdom action. They didn't want to miss out. So they were journeying with Jesus. But where?
Jesus' journey was taking him to Jerusalem (9. 51). Maybe they knew that. Maybe they hoped that in the big city, Jesus would set up his Kingdom; throw out the Romans, take the land from the rich and give it to the poor, and everyone would live in health and prosperity. But Jesus needs to sound another note. There's other water to go under the bridge before a lasting kingdom of peace and prosperity can be established. Jesus demands total commitment from his followers.
That means a realignment of their priorities. “if you don't hate your Mum and dad, your wife and children – and even your own life – you can't be my disciple”. Ouch. It sounds harsh. Maybe we can feel better about a statement like that when we understand the Jewish way of talking about comparisons: “You have to love Jesus so much that it makes your family relationships look like hatred by comparison”. The underlying idea of the Hebrew word for “hate” is “leave aside, abandon”. You don't feel loathing but you are prepared to lay them aside for the sake of the Kingdom. But even when we understand all that, it's stil a big ask. Jesus is using the strongest possible language, to make the point that the kingdom comes first in our lives, if we want to be part of it at all.
He is going to Jerusalem, where he knows, he faces not the honour and joy of setting up a Kingdom, but the humiliation, pain and dread of death on a cross. So if the crowds are journeying with Jesus, they need to take up their cross too.
The Kingdom needs to change lives from the inside before it can change society. The enemy of God's rule isn't the Romans – or the English, or the EU, or the socialists, or the capitalists, the bankers or the terrorists. The ultimate enemy of God's rule, is Satan, and his big idea is rebellion, sin, self-indulgence. Everything else stems from that – from sin. That is why the Cross is so important: sin needs to be dealt with. Those to want to journey with Jesus need to be committed to what he is committed to. The downfall of Satan, the overthrow of sin in the world and in their own lives. You want to follow? Abandon the old life. Take up your cross.
And as Jesus says that, he can see the looks in people’s eyes. A flicker of unbelief: “He didn't really mean that...” The gambler's indifference to the odds: “We'll give it a shot anyway.” The rebel's decision to try and beat the system: "we'll get around that somehow.” So Jesus continues...
Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? (v 28) Remember he's talking to poor, farming folks. Which of you when he decides to build a store-room or watch-tower will not first sit down – taking the time and energy to plan and do the sums right. The alternative is for the farmer to go out and dig the foundations, buy the blocks and cement to lay foundations, and then realise he's broke. He's got some nice foundations, but no tower. Everyone who passes the farm can see how stupid he is. Everyone can laugh at the idea. The farmer, before he starts his building project, needs to count the cost.
Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand.(v. 31) A king who goes to war rashly, angrily, marching out with his tiny army to redress some insult, is likely to be wiped out. The king needs to have a council of war, and with his officers, to make an intelligent, strategic decision – and if together they realise they are facing an impossible task, it's better to walk out with the white flag and negotiate with the enemy. Now, with God, and a God-given strategy, these odds can be upset; Leviticus 26 v 8: says that blessings on obedient covenant people include "five of you will be able to defeat 100, and a hundred will be able to defeat 10,000" and at Jericho, Joshua had proved exactly that (Joshua 6) and at the Midianite camp at the Hill of Moreh, Gideon had proved it (Judges 7) But the point Jesus is making is that the king, before going out to battle, needs to count the cost.
In parables like this there is one main point and we should not press the picture to make every detail mean something. And the main point is, are you ready to pay the cost. Disciples must be continually ready (present tense) to give up all in order to follow Jesus (33).
And the cost is 100% commitment; the Kingdom will cost you everything. Jesus isn't saying that we shouldn't build and he isn't saying that we shouldn't engage with the enemy. What he is saying is that we should cover the cost knowing that the cost of discipleship is "totality". People, you're starting something. What kind of kingdom do you want to see built? Are you ready to pay the cost? What enemy activity to you want to fight against? Are you ready to pay the cost?
Then there is one last parable: Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. (34-35)
The salt Jesus was talking about was made by evaporating water from the dead sea which is a lake below sea level. The salt in sea water is 85% Sodium Chloride – the salt we use in food. The salts in dead sea water are only 30% Sodium Chloride, with 50% Magnesium Chloride and 14% calcium Chloride. So evaporating water from the Dead Sea yields a very complex load of salts, and there is a skill in gathering the edible salt which precipitates earlier than the others. So when Jesus talks about salt that has lost its flavour, people could relate to that. You could buy a bag of salt from an unscrupulous trader, that contained other chemicals in substantial quantities. It could consist largely of plaster of Paris. It hadn't much taste; you couldn't even put it in the compost. It was only fit for throwing on the rubbish.
This saying about the uselessness of salt has lost its flavour is saying the same thing as the other verses. Disciples who can't hang in there, who aren't ready to pay the price, are as useless as tasteless salt. But salt that has lost its taste isn't really salt. It's something else. Disciples that have lost their distinctive flavour are something else. The question this parable raises in this context is simply this: what are we? Are we really made of kingdom stuff at all?
I think I have told the story before about the pig and the chicken who were walking past the a place advertising all-day breakfast, with a picture a lovely plate of bacon and egg in the window. The pig started to quake in his boots and had to look the other way. The chicken said “what’s the matter with you, it's only a picture of a breakfast!” The pig replied: it's all right for you – you only have to make a contribution...I have to give everything.” The taste of kingdom salty lives is the taste of bacon. It is the taste of a life fully surrendered to God.
So at the beginning of 2015, we can look forward to the blessings and joys of engaging with God's Kingdom. Who are we journeying with? What will we be building? What will be our battle grounds? And, are we prepared to pay the price. Victory will go to, attractive lives will be lived and strong towers built by those who are prepared to pay the price.
© Gilmour Lilly January 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment