Luke 14:25-35 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost Sunday, September 4, 2022 “Carry Your Very Own Cross”
It almost sounds like a lesson in what not to do, doesn’t it? Jesus is making his way toward Jerusalem, and there is a large crowd with him. The number of people in the crowd could have been due to the upcoming festival in Jerusalem. It might have been a case where the pedestrian traffic was particularly heavy, but it seems there was more to it also. The crowd is eager to listen. They have come to see Jesus and to be with him. And no wonder. He’s done miracles where he has provided food for people. He has healed the sick and even raised the dead. That sure sounds like a great way to gather a crowd. And Jesus, with the crowd gathered and eager to hear, him turns and addresses them. And you might expect him to tell them how thankful he is that they have come. You might expect him to offer more miracles to impress them. At the very least, you would expect him to say something to encourage them to stick with him. And Jesus tells them that following him means hating father, mother, wife, children, sister, brother, and even your own life. He tells them that they need to carry their cross. It really does sound like the exact opposite of what we might expect Jesus to say. This is not the sort of message that can be expected to draw a crowd. It is not a flashy, miracle-laden speech. It sounds much more like discouragement than encouragement. And that’s exactly why these words end up in our series entitled “Hard Truth.” This is a hard truth. This is talking about something difficult and painful and challenging. But it was important enough that Jesus needed to say it, and it is important enough that we also need to listen. And along with the crowd, Jesus tells us what we can expect as his disciples. Each particular instance may be different. Each perspective is unique, but to every follower, Jesus says, “Carry your very own cross.” And that means hating what you naturally love. It is an extensive list that Jesus presents of close relatives: parents, children, spouses who were to be the object of such a strong reaction. But what exactly does that mean? We know that God expects us to love and honor our parents. He’s given us that charge in the fourth commandment. So Jesus cannot be making a blanket statement that runs contrary to this will of God. No, he is talking about his followers, and he is insisting that he be given the primary place in their lives. He expects that his followers are going to be entirely devoted to him and so nothing and no one could get in the way of that. If mother or father were to stand in the way of serving Jesus, that cannot be allowed. And while our natural reaction might be to avoid conflict or to give way to important earthly relationships, that is not in keeping with the call of Jesus. We could say the same about parents in relation to their children. God directs us as parents to raise our children in a loving and supporting way, but we cannot allow our affections for even our children to get in the way or become more valuable than our relationship with Jesus. In fact, Jesus even calls on us to hate our own lives. Again, it is clear from the fifth commandment that we are to regard our lives as a precious gift from God. But in this context, Jesus tells us that even our own earthly lives, as dear as they may be to us, are not to be more valuable to us than he is. What Jesus describes here is a tall order. He calls it a cross, referencing that now ancient torture device, an object of disgust and revulsion. We are so far removed from the cross being used in this way that it is hard for us to imagine how the people on their way to Jerusalem, people who would likely have seen crucified criminals, how they must have felt hearing these words. It seems fitting to use the word from our service theme. Carrying the cross, your very own cross, means picking up something that you loathe. It is something that you detest. And so that is the trade that Jesus is calling on people to make, or at least be willing to make, that they give up what they love for a cross instead. It sounds like the very thing to disperse a crowd. It sounds like what would convince many to turn away in disgust. This is a hard truth indeed. But we can overcome those objections by considering the outcome. If what we love would keep us from loving Jesus more, if anything would take us away from him, the result would be devastating. We would be left in our sins, and we would be left with the punishment that we
deserve. We would be left with hell itself. Our cross points us toward Jesus and his cross. Our suffering reminds us that we need his help and his blessing. We need his work for us. We need him. And as painful or challenging or disagreeable or undesirable our cross may be, it is worth carrying all the way to our final day. It is worth carrying the cross if it keeps us with Jesus until we reach the heavenly home he has provided for us. And that is something worthy of careful consideration. That is really the point of what Jesus says to the crowd on this occasion. He wants the people to understand what it really means to follow him. It doesn’t mean that they will immediately or automatically have what they want. It doesn’t mean that he will provide them with endless miracles and food, entertainment and happiness. It means a cross. And so they need to consider if that is worth it to them. And to illustrate his point, Jesus offers two different examples. In the first, he says that if you want to build a tower, you have to start by considering the cost. If you start on it but run out of money, you leave a monument to your own failure. There is a foundation left standing with no tower attached to it. You’ve earned the ridicule of others. A second example: a king is ready to go out to war and stops to consider. He has 10,000 soldiers, but his opponent has twice as many. Maybe 10,000 is enough. Maybe the soldiers are better soldiers or better equipped. Perhaps they know the terrain or have a foolproof plan. But in most circumstances, the only thing that makes sense is to make peace instead of losing a battle. This is what Jesus wants the crowd, and all of us as well, to consider: we can’t build the tower on our own. We can’t build a life that reaches the heights that God expects. We fail too often to do even the little things, the acts of kindness toward our neighbors. We certainly fail at loving God perfectly and wholeheartedly. Even if carrying our crosses is the determining factor, wow, we love to step away from the challenge and instead to give in to our own desires and cravings. We can’t fight the numerous enemies that struggle against us, either. There are simply too many. We are outnumbered by powerful forces. All around us are temptations and traps. This is the point that Jesus wants us to grasp: if we depend on ourselves, we can’t pay the cost. We can’t win the battle. We despair of ourselves. And that is what Jesus wants us to realize. He wants us to build the tower of a Christian life. He wants us to win the battle against our foes. But we don’t have the ability in ourselves. We could not possibly give up all that we love and pick up our cross. We cannot except for God’s grace. Jesus picked up his cross. He set aside everything that people naturally love, even his own life, in order to win our forgiveness and salvation. And he empowers us to respond to his love by willingly carrying our cross. He inspires us to align our values not to what gives us pleasure or comfort but to what God’s will is for us. He motivates us to set aside even the things that we love most when they threaten his place in our hearts and lives and to pick up and carry our very own cross. That’s what makes his disciples like salt. They have not lost their purpose. They haven’t given up what really makes them what they are. They haven’t become useless for anything other than the scrap heap or manure pile. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear. These are not easy words. This is not an invitation to a life of luxury. It is not what we would expect to draw large crowds. It is a hard truth that Jesus calls us to carry our own cross. That means hating what we love, and so it requires our careful consideration. And it worth it to be a disciple of Jesus. It is worth carrying our own cross now, because that means being close to him forever.
The Text: Luke 14:25–35 (EHV) 25Large
crowds were traveling with Jesus. He turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, if he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, everyone who sees it will begin to ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This fellow began to build, but was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, as he goes out to confront another king in war, will not first sit down and consider if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32And if he is not able, he sends out a delegation and asks for terms of peace while his opponent is still far away. 33So then, any one of you who does not say farewell to all his own possessions cannot be my disciple. 34Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? 35It is not fit for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.”