Luke 14:25 -33
There’s a lot of controversy over President Biden’s decision to erase 10,000 dollars' worth of debt from people who borrowed from government programs to go to college. Some people say that without the debt they will spend more money and bolster the economy, and everyone will benefit. Others say that the debt isn't really forgiven, it’s just shifted to taxpayers, people who paid off their loans, people who didn’t go to college because it was too expensive. People who were responsible citizens and honored the contract they made to pay off their loans are now paying for people who aren’t being responsible. I don’t know the answer, but nobody ever forgave any loans I took out. Maybe it’s not too late. I could use ten thousand dollars. So the question comes up, does this have anything to do with the gospel or is the deacon just having a senior moment?
These are harsh words that Jesus has today, aren’t they? I have to hate those near and dear to me, even my own life. I have to take up my cross and follow Jesus. I have to renounce all my possessions. Maybe it’s time to look to alternative religions. I can’t do any of those things. Besides, Jesus is contradicting scripture. We are told to honor our father and mother. We are told to make room for the alien, to look out for the orphan and the widow. And God himself told Moses and the people of Israel, “I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil; choose life” And I can look to the Old Testament and see that one of the rewards for obeying God was being given possessions. God allowed Satan to deprive Job of everything but his life, and when he showed his faithfulness, God restored everything and more to him. And you can see that God rewards Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David and many others with food things because of their obedience. And we are always praying for good things to be given to us. Jesus himself said that “Whatever we ask of the Father in his name will be granted.”
Well, you can imagine that many people have struggled with this passage from Luke’s gospel. If you look in the footnotes of some bibles, they point out that it was kind of a Hebrew thing; to love one thing and hate another meant that you prefer one over the other. God himself is quoted as saying “I loved Jacob and hated Esau” and yet Esau received a lot of blessings from God. And there are those who point out that ‘to take up the cross” meant that you were living in the full knowledge that you would die, and all your decisions were made recognizing this fact.” And renouncing all your possessions really meant that you were detached from them, that you would be unaffected if they were taken away. I just hope no one steals Bishop Byrne’s dog, Zelie. So we can say, Jesus, you were just exaggerating, weren’t you? I can still love my kids and try to avoid pain and suffering and get that electric car that the government is trying to get me to buy so I can save the planet.
And our church has canonized people who had possessions, obviously loved family members, and perhaps took up their crosses, since everyone gets a cross now and then – but they are in heaven and didn’t seem to take Jesus literally either.
I think what Jesus is saying is impossible. Even a monk has a rosary and a robe. And maybe that’s the point. Jesus is talking about what it takes to be a disciple and uses two examples which have to do with counting the cost of discipleship. What person sets out to build a tower and runs out of material before he’s finished? The answer, of course, is no one. If you think you can build a tower without some sort of plan, you are foolish. And the same is true of the king and the army. No king would send ten thousand troops against twenty thousand. That would be foolish. Maybe Jesus wants us to see that we are bankrupt, we can’t do the things he asks, we can’t build the tower, we can’t conquer the enemy with our own resources.
And that’s the difference between Christianity and other religions. Different denominations understand it in different ways, it’s true. But it all boils down t6o the fact that Jesus has already paid the price, he’s already done what we have to do to be disciples, to come after him. And he’s given that to you and I. For Catholics, that’s what the sacraments are all about. When you receive a sacrament, you are accepting what Jesus has already done for you, You are allowing him to pay your bills. You are allowing him to live in you, having done everything that the Father wants from you and me. And the Father looks at you and I and sees Jesus, the one who pays the price.
