13th Sunday after Pentecost

Do we know what true discipleship means?  In the Bible passage assigned for this week, Jesus urges his followers to count the cost.  Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and to the horrors of the cross, and yet the people around him think he is going to become an emperor.  Jesus is keen to dispel this falsehood immediately.  Accordingly, he spells out that true discipleship means sacrificing everything for the Kingdom of God – even those things which are most dear.  It is a sad reality that in the church today there are many people who attend and many people who follow religion, but they are not true disciples of Jesus Christ!  Jesus says to all people who want to be disciples, have you really counted the cost?  Have we counted the cost?  Have we weighed up the fact that in following Jesus our priorities must change forever?  To illustrate the need to count the cost, Jesus uses two illustrations.  Firstly, who would want the humiliation and embarrassment of starting to build an extension to a house which would never be finished?  Secondly, a nation’s army would never choose to go war against a much bigger force that would ultimately prevail and destroy all that country’s citizens.  In the same way, we must think carefully about what being a disciple means.  The Christian way is about sacrifice and hardship.  However, if we choose this steep path, the Holy Spirit will walk with us and Jesus will be there to greet us at the top.  That makes it more than worthwhile.