Proper 18, Year C
September 9, 2001
Old St. Paul’s, Baltimore
The Rev. Timothy E. Schenck
“How much does it cost?” This question seems to come up over and over again. It’s a nice house in a nice neighborhood, but how much does it cost? It’s an attractive watch with an attractive wristband, but how much does it cost? It’s an elegant restaurant with an elegant menu, but how much does it cost? When we strip away aesthetics and convenience, utility, and beauty, we still demand to know what the bottom line really is. How much does it cost? It might make a fine pet, but how much is that doggie in the window? That’s what truly matters.
And there’s no doubt that it’s important to pay attention to our personal budgets and spend our resources judiciously. As much as I might want to see Cal Ripken’s last home game as an Oriole, I can’t see spending $2,000 on scalped tickets to do it. Aside from the fact that I enjoy my marriage, I simply have other priorities and demands to attend to. I’m sure you, too, can think of items or experiences you’d like to have that just aren’t going to happen any time soon, if ever. But I’m not standing up here to give sage financial advice or tell you how to spend your money (the stewardship campaign kicks off next month). And I don’t think we’re intended to glean nuggets of economic wisdom from the words we just heard from Jesus in Luke’s gospel. But he does raise the issue of cost. Not necessarily in the monetary sense, but Jesus is exceedingly clear about the cost of one thing, the cost of discipleship, the cost to you and to me that enables us to serve God and to call ourselves Christians.
Because of our overemphasis on the question of cost, when we hear Christ calling us to be his disciples our first reaction is often, “so, what’s it gonna cost me?” What exactly is the cost of discipleship? It may not be a monetary cost but what’s it gonna cost me? Are there hidden costs? Deferred costs? How much and what exactly do I need to fork over? Precisely what do I need to do? Okay, Jesus, I’ll consider becoming your disciple but what kind of commitment are you looking for? Do I have to go to church every Sunday? Do I have to pray on the other days of the week too? Do I have to donate both money and time to those less fortunate than me? Make me an offer, Jesus, and I’ll mull it over. I’ll draw up a list of pros and cons and do a cost/benefit analysis and get back to you. Maybe we can work out a deal. Unfortunately it just doesn’t work this way.
Jesus is unambiguous: to follow Christ costs you your very life. Darn. There’s not one bit of wiggle room here. We can’t haggle him down, sign up for the lay-a-way plan, or wait for the after Christmas sale. The cost of discipleship is our life. Period. There’s no room for compromise. To be a disciple of Christ is to follow him at the expense of all else. It is to make Christ the very focus of our lives, the focus of all that we are and all that we do. To be guided solely by Christ’s message of love and hope is a tall order. So, who can actually do this? No one can become a true disciple of Christ through his or her own strength alone. We’re not failures in this regard, we’re just all instruments of God’s love and grace. We aren’t expected to be the ideal disciples or the ideal Christians we just have to, in our hearts, yearn to be disciples and God will take care of the rest.
So what can we do? Discipleship requires uncompromising loyalty to Christ. We can’t be overly concerned with what it costs us to become disciples because the moment we focus on our own needs, which is precisely what happens when we ask about costs, we become distracted from what really counts: following Christ with all of our heart and mind and soul. The minute we ask the question, “how much does it cost?” in response to Christ’s call to discipleship, we’re headed in the wrong direction. Because we’re looking out exclusively for our own interests: How does this affect me? What do I have to give up here? True Christian discipleship demands that we look beyond ourselves and towards Christ. And that’s what Jesus is really telling us here.
In all of this it would be easy to lose sight of one of the more troubling statements Jesus makes in all of Scripture. As tempting as it might be, we can’t avoid Jesus’ statement that “whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” It’s not that we’re literally supposed to hate the members of our immediate family. But Jesus is telling us that we cannot waver in our devotion to the one, living and true God who is revealed to us through Christ. To do so is to put something other than Christ first in our lives, it is to put human relationships above our relationship with God. And to do so is, again, to look out for our own interests at the expense of God. With this statement, Jesus radically makes the point that to put anything ahead of our relationship with God is precisely the same perspective that finds us unduly focusing on the issue of personal cost. And that only leads us in the wrong direction because it’s bound for failure.
Yes, being a Christian costs something. We give up our time, our resources, our devotion, our commitment, our pain, our joy, our lives. That’s what being a disciple of Christ is all about. And with God’s help, each one of us can continue to serve God as a true disciple of Christ, and to live deeper into discipleship every moment of our lives.
© The Rev. Tim Schenck 2001
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