‘…Whoever does not carry the cross and follow
me cannot be my disciple. ..’ (Luke 14:27)
At the time Luke wrote this gospel – very approximately 40 years after the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus – the nascent
Christian community (some scholars use the expression ‘Jesus movement’) was
under fire on all sides. Many families, friendships, synagogues were split down
the middle. The appearance of Christian
communities in many of the seaside towns of the Eastern Mediterranean posed
challenges not only for the Jewish diaspora in places like Corinth or Rome but
for the Roman authorities who had only one King and their own imperial gods. Who
was Luke writing for? This passage is unique to Luke and suggests that life was
particularly stressful for his audiences and sources. There is, however, a
similar saying in Matthew
10:37 although the latter omits any mention of a disciple’s spouse and,
instead of having the word ‘hate’ it uses the expression ‘love more’. Luke,
clearly, drew on Matthew or some source common to Luke and Matthew. Did Luke
lay on the emphasis and list of forgoing persons in light of the author’s
audience or actual political situation confronting gentile Christians in around
70 A.D.?
Mention of taking up one’s cross is found in all three
synoptic gospels and was part of our everyday language up to a generation
ago. As in all the four gospels, to
follow Jesus openly or in secret was no picnic to use a modern colloquial
phrase. Perhaps it was not terribly
unlike the predicament of hundreds of thousands of Christians, today, in Pakistan,
Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt …. not to mention the other persecuted
minorities or majorities as the case may be including millions of Muslims.
Following a leader and pioneer like Jesus takes guts and
lots of passion and love.
A discipleship that makes demands of everyone
The really tricky part of Christian discipleship is that it
makes demands on us in both private and public spheres. It makes demands of us
in the ‘market place’ of economics, politics, commerce, etc. That we denounce
injustice, live to our principles and work tirelessly for the coming of Kingdom
values in our earthly kingdoms is one thing. To face the challenges of
Christian discipleship in our own personal, private, familial and intimate
lives is a whole different story. That’s where the ‘rubber hits the road’.
The word ‘hate’ is a strong word. Yet, that is how those who
translated the saying of Jesus in this passage of Luke wrote it. The notion of
‘hating’ anyone but especially ‘father and mother, wife and children, brothers
and sisters’ seems repugnant to us. But, wait for it – hear that Jesus refers
to hating ‘even life itself’ as a mark of discipleship. Taken literally and
without context, these verses can be used (and are used) by dangerous religious
cults to justify all types of ungodly and inhuman behaviour. This is not the
purpose or meaning of this passage of Luke.
The point is that in following Jesus we must be prepared to put this
following before all else. For some it may mean following a community path of
lifelong celibacy in some specific calling. For others it may mean undergoing
enormous risks to one’s life even if others are implicated as well. A family
man, saint Thomas More said just before his execution, in 1553, ‘I die the
King’s good servant, but God’s first”. He was not to succumb to persecution. Likewise Thomas Cranmer who was on the
opposite side of the reformation refused, ultimately, to succumb to persecution
from the other side of that great tragedy.
There is a place in every person’s heart and informed
conscience where only God can go and where our final, ultimate decisions are
made in the face of God and for which we take full responsibility no matter
what.
Perhaps a more faithful translation of the sense of the
original Semitic saying lying behind the Greek word misei for ‘hate’ in Luke 14:26 is ‘to love less than’. Discipleship is, indeed, a very costly
business and in the ultimate of situations we are called upon to be ready to
sacrifice even our very own lives. Thankfully, not many of us will be called on
to do this, literally. But, we are urged to lay down our lives in love for each
other and that includes those in our immediate families and circles.
What we have started we must finish with God’s help. The
sight of unfinished buildings was familiar to many in Ireland after the Great
Recession of 2008-2010. So it is in the life of discipleship – we should be
ready to take risks and not to count the cost. Then again, we should reflect on
the possible or likely cost at the outset in discerning a particular
discipleship path to follow lest we start only to leave the job half-done.
After all discipleship was never an easy thing or an extra hobby. It is a
life-long, life-wide and life-deep learning with joys and tribulations on the
way as the original word signalled.
Living from now on without regrets
Jeshua
(he-who-saves), Jesus, came to save, to redeem, to restore, to unite, to
reconcile. Yet, his message and his sending of us can, sometimes, have the
altogether unintended and tragic consequence of disrupting and tearing people apart
because not everyone will accept this message. Moreover, the message may be
‘lost in translation’ or even cancelled out by the very bad behaviour of many
Christians over the ages and today. I am not sure about you but I think that
many of us would ‘do things differently’ if we were able to go back to the
beginning of our lives. But, it took many years for us to learn this! And, we still have a chance to start again
today, now in such a way that we do not have regrets at the end of our lives
whenever that will be.
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