Read
Being a Disciple
(Matthew 10.37,38)
25Large crowds were walking along with Jesus, when he turned and said:
26 You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters. You cannot follow me unless you love me more than you love your own life.
27 You cannot be my disciple unless you carry your own cross and follow me.
28Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. What is the first thing you will do? Won't you sit down and figure out how much it will cost and if you have enough money to pay for it? 29Otherwise, you will start building the tower, but not be able to finish. Then everyone who sees what is happening will laugh at you. 30They will say, “You started building, but could not finish the job.”
31What will a king do if he has only 10,000 soldiers to defend himself against a king who is about to attack him with 20,000 soldiers? Before he goes out to battle, won't he first sit down and decide if he can win? 32If he thinks he won't be able to defend himself, he will send messengers and ask for peace while the other king is still a long way off. 33So then, you cannot be my disciple unless you give away everything you own.
Salt and Light
(Matthew 5.13; Mark 9.50)
34Salt is good, but if it no longer tastes like salt, how can it be made to taste salty again? 35It is no longer good for the soil or even for the manure pile. People simply throw it out. If you have ears, pay attention!
Reflect
Wow! Hard words! It was easier when Jesus was telling parables.
If you are reading from the NIV you might want to turn to the CEV for this section. It reads: “You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother” etc. (v 26). This reflects more accurately what Jesus meant. It clearly follows on from yesterday’s reading.
The words in v 27 are often misapplied in ordinary conversation when people say something like “I just had to listen to my mother-in-law complaining for an hour on the phone. Oh well, it’s just my cross, I suppose.” Usually said with some resignation about something irritating that we just have to put up with.
If you think about what the cross meant to Jesus, you won’t use his words this way. Crucifixion was common in the Roman Empire. No doubt many in the crowd would have seen condemned people dying on a cross. It was always done in a public place as a warning to potential “criminals.” As part of the punishment the victims were forced to carry their cross to the site of their crucifixion.
How could anyone contemplate joining Jesus on his way to the cross? Well, they couldn’t, if you read the rest of the gospel story. At the moment of testing, Peter denied him. At his crucifixion, all the disciples deserted him and fled.
But afterwards there was the resurrection. He appeared alive to his disciples. They waited, on his instruction, for six weeks. Then the Holy Spirit was poured out on them, and the same fearful people were filled with a courage they never knew before.
Most of us will never be faced with the same stark threat of the Roman world. But there is a cost to being a Christian and we will be challenged. If we choose to follow Jesus as our top priority and know what it means to have the Holy Spirit a daily presence in our lives, we can know the exhilaration of being a true disciple.
Respond
Lord Jesus, You have faced me with a stark reality. I can be like the people in your stories here, and give up because the cost is too much, and I didn’t reckon on this when I first decided to follow you. Or I can step out and trust you and live a life in the joy and power of the Holy Spirit as your true disciple. Help me make the right choice. Amen.
Annabel Robinson
Annabel was born in Kew, near London, England. She committed her life to Jesus Christ at a Scripture Union camp when she was 16, and immediately found joy and peace. At Oxford she was active in the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, where she met her husband, Reid. They emigrated to Canada in 1965, where she taught Classics at the University of Regina until 2007. She has two children, Heather in Oslo and Alasdair in Calgary.