5. The cost of discipleship 14:25-35

Luke had just recorded Jesus' teaching about God's gracious invitation to enjoy the messianic banquet in the kingdom. It was free for all who would respond. Jesus taught elsewhere that responding meant believing on Him. Now Luke recorded Jesus' teaching that though salvation was free, discipleship was costly. This is important balancing revelation. Salvation guarantees heaven, but it also calls for complete commitment to Jesus, not to secure heaven but to express gratitude for heaven.

"The theme of the cost of accompanying Jesus runs like a refrain throughout Lk. (9:57-62; 18:24-30)."³⁴⁰

 The setting of these parables 14:25-27

14:25 Luke described a setting different from the preceding meal. Jesus was on the road again heading toward Jerusalem. It was evidently the great size of the multitude that accompanied Him that led Him to say what He did.

14:26-27 Curiosity is one thing, but discipleship is another. There were many people who were accompanying Jesus who were not really following Him in the sense of learning from Him. They simply wanted to benefit from His ministry. Jesus mentioned two qualifications for being His disciple.

First, one must be willing to give up his or her primary allegiance to family and self. Jesus taught His disciples to love their enemies rather than hating them (6:27-38). He was not contravening the teaching of the fifth commandment either (18:20). He spoke positively about loving oneself too (10:27). He clearly meant hate in a relative rather than an absolute sense here.

Second, a disciple must bear the burden of public identification with Jesus even to death if necessary (9:23; cf. Deut. 13:4; 1 Kings 14:8; 18:21; 2 Kings 23:3). Luke recorded this command in more detail than Matthew did perhaps because of his Gentile readers' greater need for challenge and encouragement in view of persecution (cf. Matt. 10:37-38).

 The parable of the tower builder 14:28-30

Jesus then told another parable. His point was that those in the crowd who were considering becoming disciples of His should count the cost before they embarked on a life of discipleship.

"The simple fact is that the New Testament never takes for granted that believers will see discipleship through to the end. And it never makes this kind of perseverance either a condition or a proof of final salvation from hell.

"It . . . is simply a theological illusion to maintain that a Christian who has embarked on the pathway of discipleship could never abandon it. In the spiritual realm, this notion is as naive as an earthly father who declares, Myson would never drop out of school!'"³⁴¹

A person who begins following Jesus and then stops following only makes a fool of himself. The Greek word purgoscan mean either tower of farm building. Probably many of Jesus' hearers were farmers.

 The parable of the king going to battle 14:31-33

14:31-32 This second parable makes essentially the same point as the first one. However the cost of failure in this one is not just embarrassment but personal destruction. It is very important to assess the strength of one's enemy correctly. Jesus was not encouraging people to stop following Him because they feared they could not withstand temptations. He wanted them to follow Him, but intelligently, not naively. There were probably no kings in Jesus' audience, but the people could easily put themselves in the place of a king.

"Discipleship to Jesus Christ is not an invitation to a Sunday school picnic. It is an invitation to spiritual warfare."³⁴²

14:33 Jesus now applied the parables (cf. vv. 26-27). Obviously the Twelve had not given away everything they owned. They had adopted a lifestyle conducive to fulfilling their mission that involved relatively few possessions. Therefore we should probably understand Jesus' command as requiring a willingness to part with possessions as necessary to follow Jesus faithfully (cf. 12:33). Elsewhere Jesus taught His disciples to manage the possessions that they did have wisely (16:1-12). A person should not begin a venture without sufficient resources to finish it. Similarly one should not begin following Jesus without being willing to sacrifice anything to complete that project successfully.

 The importance of following Jesus faithfully 14:34-35

In conclusion, Jesus compared a disciple to salt. Salt was important in the ancient East because it flavored food, retarded decay, and in small doses fertilized land.³⁴³All of these uses are in view in this passage. Most salt in the ancient world came from salt marshes or the like rather than from the evaporation of salt water, so it contained many impurities. The sodium was more soluble than many of the impurities. It could leach out leaving a substance so dilute that it was of little worth.³⁴⁴

Just as a disciple can cease to follow Jesus, so salt can lose its saltiness. In that case both things become useless. What distinguishes a disciple of Jesus from a non-disciple, what makes him or her "salty,"is his or her allegiance to Jesus (cf. Matt. 5:13; Mark 9:50). Farmers added salt to animal dung to slow down the fermentation process so they could preserve it as fertilizer until they needed to use it.³⁴⁵The disciple who does not continue following Jesus faithfully falls under divine judgment, not that he will lose his salvation but part of his reward, specifically the opportunity for further significant service.

Jesus urged His hearers to listen carefully to what He had said (cf. 8:8).

Prospective disciples need to realize the implications of following Jesus and then choose to follow Him faithfully.

"His [Luke's] main point is that successful discipleship requires Jesus to be a priority in life."³⁴⁶