The cost of discipleship.

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

Lk. 14:25-33

In our highly commercialised world, it is a fact of life that almost every commodity, whether material or labour, has a price attached to it.  The services we use have to be paid for, whether it is to call out a plumber, or simply to use the public toilets at Railway Stations.  The only exceptions would be the welfare services subsidised by the Governments or run by charities, but even then, it is not uncommon for voluntary donations to be requested.  Each time we need something, therefore, our instinctive concern is about how deep we will have to dip into our purses.

And yet, when it comes to our spiritual life, we sometimes feel surprised, or even angry, that there are costs involved.  However, before we consider the subject of spiritual costs, we need to be very clear in our minds about one important fact, namely that our salvation is a free gift from God to us.  Not only is it a free gift, but it is a gift of infinite value.  In giving us His Son, Jesus, God the Father has given us everything that He possibly could.  The Passion and Death of Jesus is the supreme expression of God’s love for us, and is the source of our salvation.  This gift is given to us free of charge.  However, as we well know from ordinary life, whenever we receive a free gift, we like to show our appreciation, at least by a token reciprocal gift.  In the same way, God desires that we love Him in return and that we express this love by a willingness to sacrifice whatever He asks of us, even our whole selves, knowing that whatever we give Him is as nothing compared to what He has sacrificed for us.  It is in this context that we have to understand the concept of the cost of discipleship.  What, then, are some of the ways in which we encounter the cost of following Jesus?

One obvious area where the Lord may be asking us to sacrifice is our possessions – both our material goods and our time.  From time to time, the Lord may invite us to let go of our wealth or our time, in order to help someone in need.  We have the assurance that whenever we do so for the sake of the least of His people, we are doing it for Him.  The sacrifice we make for others is made for the Lord Himself. 

The second, and perhaps more difficult, challenge of letting go is that which relates to people.  At times, the Lord calls us to part with people who are especially dear to us.  It may be a bereavement that we have to go through, or it may be that we have to sacrifice a relationship for the sake of Christ or His Gospel values.  A young man who lets go of the girl he is in love with because he feels called to the religious life or the young woman who breaks with her boyfriend because he is pressurizing her to have premarital sex, or a person who loses his friends, because he refuses to cooperate in a dishonest act – all of these are examples of people who are willing to part with dear ones for the sake of Christ. 

Today’s Second Reading presents us with a beautiful scriptural example.  The story concerns a young slave named Onesimus who had run away from his master, Philemon.  While in prison, he had come under the influence of St. Paul and so became a Christian.  St. Paul was thus his spiritual father and was very fond of him.  However, after a while St. Paul decided to send him back to his master with a letter of recommendation.  He had done his part in converting Onesimus to the Christian faith, and now it was time to let him go and return him to his master.

This sacrifice obviously caused St. Paul some pain as he admits in his letter:  in sending Onesimus back, he is sending part of himself.  St. Paul thus gives us a wonderful example of how generously to let go of people when the Lord asks, without clinging to them.

The third and the most difficult area is that of letting go of our self-will.  In the Our Father we say “Thy will be done” but sometimes in our hearts we say “my will be done!”  Our will, of course, is a precious gift from God, and a part of our identity and dignity.  It is through our will that we express our capacity for love.  The problem arises, however, when we equate our will with self-will instead of God’s will.  When we do this, we place “self” above God or other people.  We say “These are the things I want”, or “This is why I want to do these things, never mind what God or anybody else wants.”  Such an attitude makes us close in on ourselves and refuse to listen to what God is telling us, whether in our personal prayer, or through other people.  If, however, we have the courage and generosity to let go of self-will and embrace God’s will, whatever it entails, we will experience deep peace and joy.  The apparent loss of freedom in the renunciation of our self-will paradoxically results in our gaining the true freedom of doing God’s will.

For those of us who are religious we are called to practise renunciation in a radical way; and indeed, the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are a public statement of our radical willingness to let go respectively of things, people and self-will for God’s sake.  But whether religious or not, all Christians today are invited to reflect on the cost of Christian discipleship.  God’s will is so profound and at times beyond human comprehension.  There are times when we are tempted to ask, “Lord why are you asking this of me?  Ask me anything but this?”  These will be the times to remind ourselves of two important things.  One, God only asks what is always within our capacity to give, however difficult it may be.  Two, what He is asking of us is as nothing as compared to what He has given us in Jesus.

Lord Jesus, give us the courage and generosity to surrender to our heavenly Father whatever He may ask of us, even our very lives.

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